Insurrection
by The Blue Sorceress
Summary: Peace has finally returned to Faerun, and the no-longer-Bhaalspawn Kensai Brynn Trueblade is enjoying the quiet, but another story unfurls with the arrival of an old friend. *Chapter 1-17*
1. An Old Friend Pays a Visit

Insurrection 

*** 

_In the Year DR 1370, the Year of the Tankard, the Kensai, Brynn Trueblade stepped down from the throne of her father, the God of Murder, Bhaal, and in doing so became more famous than she might have had she become a Goddess. For in Faerun there are many Gods and Goddesses, but rare are those who would turn down the chance at such power. That power, she told all who questioned her, meant nothing to her, but the lives she had restored in giving that power up meant the world. By the fates' decree, or perhaps through a little bargaining, Lady Trueblade was able to resurrect her dear companions who had fallen whilst traveling with her. Then, tired of her constant battles, she and the Blades of Honor, returned to Amn, and their keep therein, and tried to knit their lives back together._

Chapter 1: 

An Old Friend Pays a Visit 

The guards at the De'Arnise keep noticed the stranger even before he had fully emerged from the cover of the trees. He wore a gray traveler's cloak, and from beneath it came glimpses of navy blue. His face was concealed by the cloak's hood, but hank of silver-streaked black hair was visible. He approached the gate, and waited politely for one of the guards to walk over to him. 

The guard, though he tried, could not seem to get a good look at the stranger's face. "State your name and business," the guard ordered sharply. 

"I am here to see the Lady Trueblade, if she is in," the stranger said. He spoke with a strange accent. 

"Well, that's you're business," the guard grumbled, "now what about you're name?" 

"I would prefer to surprise the Lady Trueblade," said the stranger with a hint of a smile in his voice, "it has been many years since I have had occasion to speak with her, and doubtless she is not expecting me." 

"All the more reason not to surprise her," the guard said pointedly. 

The stranger sighed. "Then announce me to her, if that is what you wish. But my name must remain my secret until I meet her." 

"Listen, fella," the guard said irritably, "You don't get to have any secrets unless you want to meet the Lady Trueblade in the dungeon behind a cell door, if you get my drift." 

The stranger actually laughed. "Then tell the Lady that Touga Kurai is here to see her, I am sure you will find your precautions unwarranted." 

The guard frowned. "Ric, Tevin, c'mere and take this fella to the Lady's audience chamber. Don't take your eyes off of him." 

Another two guards hustled over and led the stranger up a flight of stone stairs to a large wooden door, and then escorted him inside. The gate guard watched the three of them until the wooden door had shut again, and then turned his eyes back to the path up to the drawbridge, and thought no more of the cloaked stranger. 

*** 

"I have you now!" 

"Eek!" 

They landed on the huge four poster bed, messing up the covers and sending a wave of pillows _thowmping _to the floor. Somewhere in the tangle their lips met, and they shared a long, hungry kiss, and began to shed clothes. 

There was a knock on the door, and it was ignored. 

There was another knock on the door, this one more insistent, and from the other side a maid called, "Lady Trueblade! There be man wot want's to see ye in yer audience chamber!" 

Brynn rolled over and groaned. "He can wait, I'm busy!" 

"He's bein' mighty loud about it, me Lady," the maid replied. "He says if ye aren't there ta meet with him soon he'll come up to find ye." 

"Perhaps you had better go," Yoshimo suggested, propping himself up and leaning over her. 

Brynn shook her head. "I probably should, but I don't feel like it," she whispered. Aloud she said, "On what authority is he demanding to see me?" 

"He said he knows ye," the maid said. 

Brynn snorted. "Wonderful," she muttered, "probably some perfumed noble or what have you. What's his name?" 

"He calls hisself Toga Curry or somethin' o' that sort. He speaks with a funny accent." 

"Toga Curry?" Yoshimo wondered aloud. 

Brynn shrugged. "I don't know anyone by the name of Toga..." she paused. To the maid she asked, "You mean _Touga Kurai?_" 

"Aye, that be it, me Lady..." 

Brynn sat bolt upright. "Tell him I'll be right there!" 

"Yes, me Lady." 

Brynn rolled out of bed and began gathering up her clothes and quickly putting them on again. Yoshimo watched her with an amused expression as she hopped around, trying to put on her left boot and her tunic at the same time. 

"I wonder who this fellow is," he said mildly. "The name sounds familiar." 

As soon as she managed to get her tunic on, Brynn gave him a look of mock irritation. "I should hope so. I'm sure you remember me talking about Master Touga at least a few times..." 

"A day," Yoshimo finished for her, smiling mischievously. "Your tunic is on backward, _aijin_." 

Brynn cursed and quickly got her tunic turned around the proper way. "Come on, get dressed!" she urged Yoshimo. 

"Me? I think not, this is your reunion not mine. I would not dream of being in the way." 

Brynn raised an eyebrow at him. "You're just miffed 'cause we got interrupted. You'll like Master Touga! He was like a father to me." 

Yoshimo grimaced, but got out of bed and started getting back into his clothes. "Wonderful, and here I thought that I did not have to worry about impressing your family." 

"Oh, he'll like you, I'm sure of it," Brynn reassured him. She managed to get her right boot laced up and cinched her belt around her waist. "Now where did I put my katanas... here they are! Master Touga will probably want to see how much I've progressed. Hurry up!" She grabbed Yoshimo's hands and started pulled him out of the room. 

She fairly flew down to the audience chamber, which doubled as the dining room at meal times and the ballroom if Brynn ever decided to have a ball (which wasn't very likely.) Brynn saw that all the rest of the Blades were already there, chatting with the aging Kensai. Imoen had probably introduced them. Brynn ran halfway down the stairs into the chamber, jumped over the rest, and sprinted across the stone floor to wrap her mentor in a warm hug. 

"Master Touga! What are you doing here? It's been forever since I've seen you!" Brynn babbled. She let him go and took a good look at him. He had gotten so much older since she'd last seen him five years before. His hair was streaked with gray, and the once faint lines around his eyes and mouth and on his forehead had grown into deep furrows. His nearly black eyes still held the same youth she had remembered from when she first met him though, and when she hugged him she could tell he was still in top physical form. 

"Brynn?" the old Kensai asked, sounding surprised. "By the gods, child, you have... changed." 

"I have?" Brynn asked. 

"Well, your grip has gotten stronger, certainly," Touga replied, smiling kindly. "You were hardly more than a child the last time I saw you." 

"I was not!" Brynn protested. 

"And it seems you have gathered yourself quite the group of friends," Touga continued. "I remember you being more interested in your training than people." 

Brynn grinned. "You've met everyone?" 

"I have," Touga replied. 

"Not quite!" Brynn corrected him gleefully, feeling some of her old childlike playfulness coming back to her. She twirled around and called to Yoshimo, who was still standing at the top of the stairs for some reason, "Yoshimo, come meet Master Touga!" 

Yoshimo chuckled as he slowly made his way down the stairs. "Oh, we have already met, I believe." He stopped next to Brynn and bowed to the Kensai according to the customs of their mutual homeland. "Though, he would have known me by another name," he added, straightening up and looking Touga in the eyes. 

There was a flash of recognition in Touga's expression, and he threw back his cloak and reached for his katana. "You!" he exclaimed. "What are _you_ doing here?" 

Brynn's stomach flip-flopped. What was going on? This wasn't how everything was supposed to happen! "You two... know each other?" she asked, wanting confirmation. 

"We have met, yes," Yoshimo said calmly. Brynn noticed though, that he to was reaching slowly for his katana. Something was wrong. 

"Do you remember the circumstances of my exile?" Touga inquired of Brynn. 

"Yes..." Brynn replied, drawing out the word. He had never really explained what had happened, but she knew it had something to do with failing to do his duty, or something like that. 

"It was because of this man beside you that I was banished from my homeland," Touga continued. His upper lip began to twist into a snarl, but he quickly schooled his face into an expression of impassive calm. "And for that I fear that I cannot forgive him." 

Brynn gaped. "What? Hey!" She smacked the hand Touga had on his katana until he let go. "Cut that out! You too, Yoshimo!" 

The other Blades were no longer sitting. They stood uneasily, unsure whether to prepare to fight or what. 

"Now will _someone_ explain this all to me?" Brynn asked. 

"It is a long story, _aijin_," Yoshimo said, by his voice feeling more than a little edgy. He had let go of his katana, but his fingers itched to take hold of it again just in case. 

Touga shot Yoshimo a look of disbelief mixed with anger. "_What_ did you call her?" he asked. He had his hand back on the hilt of his katana, and Brynn, noticing this, smacked his hand again until he released it. 

"That's not the issue right now," Brynn told him firmly. "Let's not get sidetracked." She turned to Yoshimo. "You said it was a long story? Well, I'm interested enough to listen to it, _if_ either of you will calm down enough to tell me." 

"I would be glad to relate it to you," Yoshimo told her. 

"I agree, she _should_ hear the story," Touga added, frowning darkly. "I will correct you if you... are not entirely _accurate_." 

Brynn looked between the two men, sensing the tension in the room rising dramatically. "Well, then, let's all sit down and listen, hmm? Aerie, will you go fetch one of the servants and have them bring us something to drink?" 

Aerie nodded and ran off, and the rest sat down at the table. Haer'Dalis produced a pen, paper and some ink, and got ready to jot down the story as it was told. To Brynn's eyes he looked all to excited about the events of the day. Then again, though the bard had been glad to relax after the mad frenzy of a few months before, he had been getting a little antsy lately. He probably was starting to miss the excitement and the danger. Come to think of it, Brynn was too... a little. 

In a few minutes Aerie returned, and behind her a serving woman with two pitchers of fine ale. Drinks were served to those who wanted them, and then Yoshimo began to tell his story. 

To be Continued 

______________________________________________________________________________ 

A/N 

So, here is the sequel I promised you, or at least the first two chapters of it. I'm holding off on the ToB plotline for now, and moving on to afterwards because I've been cooking up this story for sometime now and I wanted to start posting it. It does give away some of the stuff that would have happened tou our heroes in ToB, but it still leaves enough uncovered to make telling _that_ story later worthwhile. 

Thanks, 

The Blue Sorceress 


	2. Past Deeds

Chapter 2: 

Past Deeds 

Yoshimo wet his lips with his glass of ale, not really drinking in case worse came to worse and he ended up in an honor duel with Touga. He was acutely conscious of the many pairs of eyes on him, the way Haer'Dalis had his pen poised above his paper, and the concerned frown on Brynn's lovely face as she sat beside him. Of all the people he had expected or wanted to see again Touga Kurai had to be at the bottom of the list, right before Irenicus. Still, the man had shown up, and it was time to let the past be told. 

"I am no storyteller," he began, "but I believe I can relate the tale accurately." He heard Touga make a noise of disbelief, but went on without calling the other man out. "I am not sure that any of you aside from Touga-_san_ or myself are aware of the customs of my homeland, so I will tell you, because they are important to my story. The islands of Wa are ruled with an iron fist. Travel requires papers, all crimes are punished by execution, and the caste system is so rigid that it makes the West seem almost lawless by comparison." 

"But it keeps the peace!" Touga cut in sharply. 

Yoshimo nodded. "It does. At the cost of everything most westerners hold dear. May I continue, or do you have more to add?" 

Touga looked like he wanted to say something, but instead merely folded his arms across his chest and tried to look diffident. "Please, go on," he said crisply. 

"I was born into the highest caste, the samurai. Only those born samurai are allowed to use weapons, and they hold the power of life and death over all those beneath them, including lower ranked samurai under their command, and in some cases the command of others. While I was a boy I chose to reject the rigid system of my peers, and turned to the streets of my homeland, becoming ronin, a masterless, and therefore honorless samurai. It was there that I met _my_ master, Hiruma Sabishii..." 

Touga snorted in contempt. 

Yoshimo ignored him and continued. "Master Hiruma taught me all I needed to know of bounty hunting and the life of a mercenary, which is the only place a ronin had in Wa. Most ronin tried to find other masters, or committed seppuku rather than continue to live in dishonor, but Master Hiruma chose a different path. You see, often enough a samurai lord will require extra troops to put down this uprising here, or stamp out that minor rebellion there, or just to keep his rivals in place. The peace of Wa is not easy, it is maintained by force, rigid discipline and by fear of dishonor and death. My path, and that of my master, was to exploit this system to the best of our abilities. We were not respected, but we had the things we desired, and were happy." 

"And to do this you took the fruits of others' labors without earning them," Touga said in a deceptively mildly. 

"Exactly what the samurai did under the Shogun's direction," Yoshimo pointed out, "Master Hiruma and I were just more intelligent about it. Instead of demanding from those who could not give, we demanded it from those who could. I would not be so quick to say that we did not earn what we acquired either, you would be surprised at how hard it was to get what we had." 

"Enough conversation," Brynn said, "more story." 

"Indeed, please make haste to the interesting part," Haer'Dalis urged. His paper was as yet unwritten on except for a few scribbled notes. "I fear my ink will dry in the bottle well before you are done at this rate." Imoen elbowed him in the ribs. 

Yoshimo cleared his throat and took a small sip of his ale before going on. "It was not long before I was one of Master Hiruma's confidants, and he valued my assistance as much as many of his more experienced fellows. Not more than a year after I began working under his tutelage Master Hiruma told me of his... other... businesses. He was the ruler of the underworld in Wa, a very secretive one, and he kept his less than legal practices unknown through bribery, blackmail and other unsavory methods. He was very effective. Master Hiruma decided that I ought to be introduced to these dealings, and so gave me what I thought was a simple task. I was to slip into the home of one of the _Daimyo_, the lords who controlled the provinces under the Shogun, and retrieve piece of valuable information. I entered the compound easily, too easily, in fact, something I should have noticed then, but failed to. Once inside I found the documents I had been sent for, took them, and went to leave. I was almost away when a lone man, unarmored and carrying only a torch, and with his katana and wakazashi belted at his waist, stepped into my path. I am sure you are all capable of divining who that man was." 

"Who?" Minsc asked, looking puzzled. Aerie and Dynaheir both sighed. The two of them had not exactly gotten on well at first, but after a while Minsc's two witches bonded over their protector's quirks. 

"I believe Yoshimo is referring to Touga," Dynaheir said patiently. 

"Oho! I see!" Minsc said, understanding now. "Why did he not just say so." 

"Never mind, Minsc," Aerie told him. "Please go on, Yoshimo." 

Yoshimo resisted the urge to chuckle at the addle-headed ranger. "You are correct, it was Touga Kurai that stood to block my escape, and much the worse for me. I was a hardly a man, and he was already a fully trained Kensai. Not a master of his art yet, but good enough to more than put me in a grave. It was mere luck that I survived, and even then I came out with this scar to show for it." He touched the scar that crossed the bridge of his nose and went on to mark his right cheek. "It was my lack of skill that saved me. I was trying to get my katana out when he came at me. A katana fits into its sheath so that it locks to prevent it from sliding out, as sometimes happens in western weapons, though not often, and there is a trick to freeing it that I had not quite mastered. Thankfully I was quick on my feet, or I would have had my hair trimmed at the level of my nose. As I dodged I managed to free my blade, and as I drew it Touga-_san_ came in for an attack. The hilt of my katana hit him in the eye, and he stumbled backward. I would have finished him, had my blade not slipped from my hand and gone back in its sheath as tightly as before. Instead, I sufficed with knocking him unconscious with a kick to the temple, and ran." 

Beside him, Yoshimo felt Brynn shaking with the effort she was making to restrain her laughter. In hindsight the situation was humorous, but Yoshimo wondered if perhaps it would have been wiser for her to save her mirth until _after_ his life was no longer in danger. 

"What happened after that?" Nalia asked. 

Yoshimo sighed and looked grim. "I returned to my master with the documents, only to find that he had betrayed me." 

"Oo!" Haer'Dalis exclaimed eagerly, "intrigue! What a fascinating twist!" He quickly scribbled more notes on his now nearly full paper. 

"Yes, indeed," Yoshimo said blandly. "As fascinating as it may seem to you now, then for me it was a shock. Master Hiruma had felt that I was becoming a threat to his leadership of his mercenary troops, and his control of the underworld in Wa. He arranged for the _Daimyo's_ security to find out about my late night excursion, and was more than a little surprised to see me return all but unscathed. He was furious, and after taking the documents from me, he tried to kill me, giving me _this_." He touched the scar that ran almost parallel to the other. "I managed to escape from him, barely, by using the skills he had taught me, and knowing that my homeland was no longer safe for me, I fled to foreign lands where my master had no power." 

"So..." Khalid said uncertainly, "...how did _that_ ruin _his_ life?" 

Yoshimo looked at his fellow resurrectee -if that was even the right word- and said, "That, Touga-_san_ will have to tell you." 

"You want to know?" Touga asked Khalid directly, as if in a challenge. Yoshimo noticed that Khalid almost -almost- flinched under the Kensai's gaze, but he did not. Brynn had described Khalid as a good man, but not the most brave and prone to stuttering. It seemed that torture and then death had put a little steel into the man's backbone, for in the months since he, Khalid and Dynaheir had inexplicably been returned to life Yoshimo had only heard Khalid stutter once, and he had not seemed even the slightest bit cowardly. 

"_I_ want to know, Master Touga," Brynn cut in. 

Touga was silent for a moment. "He was truthful in his tale," he said at last, nodding in Yoshimo's direction, "it was indeed merely a twist of fate that saved him and destroyed me. Because we had been warned of the upcoming attack the _Daimyo's _ guards, which I led at the time, chose to allow the would be thief access, and then catch him as he attempted to flee. Because I was the best swordsman, I was chosen to face him. None of us, least of all myself, imagined that I would be beaten." He paused, as if to collect himself. "When I _was_ beaten, I was brought before the _daimyo_, and he because he was the brother of the Shogun, not only made me ronin, but exiled me. I was put on the ship of a foreign merchant and told that if I could not do my duty I belonged among the barbarians to the west." 

Touga's tale was much shorter; he had far less to tell, but it was explanatory enough for the Blades. Yoshimo, of course, knew that the Kensai had purposefully glossed over the cultural details that would have confused anyone who was not familiar with the laws and customs of his homeland. 

"I understand," Brynn said. She bit her lip, and looked to be struggling with something. "But Master Touga, think of what would have happened if you hadn't been exiled." 

Touga looked at her with narrowed eyes. "What do you mean, little one?" 

"Well, you would never have had the chance to train me, and that would have been the end of the world," Brynn replied. 

Anomen gave a quick bark of laughter. "Aye, and you say that _I_ am full of myself, my lady." 

Brynn frowned at him briefly and then turned back to Touga. "I mean it," she said earnestly. "I might well have never picked up a sword had I not met you, Master, and so I would never have left Candlekeep. I may well have died within those walls two years ago." 

"Has it been two years already?" Imoen wondered aloud. 

Brynn shrugged. "Close to it anyway," she confirmed. "I don't mean to sound over-proud, but I think without myself and the Blades this Sword Coast would be one huge burning, bloody mess right now, and Melissan would be the new Goddess of Murder." She leaned over the table and looked Touga directly in the eyes. "Really, Master, it looks as if it was fate that ruined your life and caused you to be exiled, because if you had stayed in your homeland Alaundo's prophecy would never have come to pass." 

Touga regarded her with a cool expression, and to Yoshimo it seemed that master and pupil were having a war of wills. The funny thing was, Yoshimo realized, was that Brynn was correct. A whole string of events starting farther back than any of them knew had led up to this moment. He just hoped that Touga would realize the same thing. 

At last Touga sat back and looked straight over at Yoshimo. Brynn straightened too, and Yoshimo sensed that a great deal of the tension she had been feeling was gone. He gave her hand a thankful squeeze under the table. 

"I will consider your words, little one," Touga said regally. "Maybe you are correct." 

Brynn broke into a smile. "You are very wise, Master." 

"No, I am a simple Kensai," Touga replied, being appropriately modest. That was Kara-Turan custom; it was better to refuse a compliment, or refute it somehow, instead of accepting it right away and seeming arrogant. 

"Well, we have a lot of catching up to do, Master," Brynn said. 

Touga nodded. 

"What do you say we go out to the courtyard and have a little spar?" Brynn suggested. "I remember only ever defeating you once, and I wonder how I match up now." 

All around the room the Blades smiled confidently, sure of their leader and friend. Brynn had grown so strong over the past two years that no doubt she would mop the floor with her former Master. 

"That sounds interesting, little one," Touga agreed. 

That was the signal for the Blades to leave the audience chamber and assemble out in the courtyard. None of them wanted to miss this match. 

To Be Continued 

______________________________________________________________________________ 

A/N 

Hi all. In this chapter I tried to give my hypotheses about Yoshimo's history pre-SoA, and also provide a link between him and Touga Kurai. Expect to see some action next chapter as Brynn and her former Master match wits and blades. 

Blue 


	3. Saving Face

Chapter 3: 

Saving Face 

Brynn and Touga squared off in the courtyard. They gripped wooden practice swords, and left their steel blades resting in their scabbards off to the side. Neither actually wanted to hurt the other, both just wanted to see if the balance of years before had changed, and if it had, in whose favor. 

Despite the great leaps Brynn had made in her skill as a Kensai, she still remembered having never defeated Touga in a sparring match. Ever. She still saw him as the man who had trained a little wisp of a half-elf girl for nearly ten years, but never seemed to teach her everything he knew. Around him, she still felt like a child. 

To Touga too, she still was a child in many ways. He had heard only second or third hand the stories of her accomplishments, and though he had always respected her skill and talent, he put all the amazing incidents of the last few years on a combination of good luck, good back up, and good training, and a good deal of exaggeration and poetic license on the part of the bards that retold the stories, not legendary skill and power. He was proud of his pupil, but he never suspected that he would lose to her. After all, he had not been sitting idle for the past five years either. 

"I see you are still using that clumsy two-sword style," Touga said disapprovingly to Brynn as he warmed up, deftly moving through a series of classic sword forms. 

Brynn smiled. "I may have been clumsy with it when _you_ last saw me, Master, but now I am the definition of grace." She raised both wooden katanas to the ready, getting used to the different weight of them compared to her steel blades. She didn't think it would affect her very much. She took a few experimental swipes in the air and briefly went through a series of forms she'd come up with to help her manage her two blades without getting tangled up or slicing off one of her own hands. It was a simple maneuver really, but to the eyes of the guards that watched, and several of the maids who had come to see the spectacle of their Lady in match against her former sword master, it was almost like a dance; exquisitely choreographed and endlessly complex. 

"Is that a western form?" Touga inquired politely as they both stopped showing off and got down to business. 

"Nope," Brynn replied. "I made it up. The old forms didn't work all that well. They were meant for one weapon, and either defense of offense. I had to work out a way to practice with two swords and defense and offense at the same time. That's one of the benefits of dual-wielding, Master. I combined some of the forms you taught me with some of my own maneuvers and came up with my own style. I've found it works rather well." 

"So I see." 

Then, as if cued by some signal only they two could see, the two combatants began their match. Everyone could see that both Brynn and Touga were exceptionally skilled, but those who knew what to look for saw that Brynn was just warming up and Touga was working hard to keep her at bay. The tables had turned. 

Brynn's heart began to sink as she saw the discrepancy between her skill and her former Master's. He was still a superb Kensai, but she was far better, and it would be embarrassing for him if she were to beat him so easily before not only her friends, but the servants and the palace guards as well. But how could she not beat him? She was faster, she was stronger and she was more skilled. But how could she beat him, knowing that if she did it might very well break him? 

She began to fight as if it was all she could do to hold Touga back; going on the defense and scrunching her face up like she was concentrating all of her power on each parry. She did it slowly so that it seemed like Touga had worn her down, beaten past her youthful strength with skill and perseverance. She made openings for him to attack, and then blocked him at the last second, making it look for all the world that she was straining to keep up with him. At last she thought the time was right to provide the perfect opening, and masked her move to expose herself as a mistake. Touga's wooden sword came down on her right shoulder hard enough for it to sting a little, and Brynn panting, not from the effort of defending herself, but from the effort of making it possible for her master to win, lowered her two blades and bowed to him. 

"You're still better than I, Master," she said, trying to catch her breath. She prayed that her ploy had worked and that Touga had not noticed that she had thrown the match. 

"But you have improved, little one," Touga praised her. "You had me for a time, but your strength faltered. I believe those forms that you 'made up' need work to be more effective. I noticed several flaws, and because I was able to exploit them, I won." 

"Ah, well it is fortunate that none of Brynn's _other_ opponents found such flaws, neh?" Yoshimo said, coming up to stand by Brynn. His eyes were cool and distant as he looked at Touga, and Brynn wondered if the two of them would ever sort out the animosity that was between them. 

Imoen bounded up, grinning. "That was amazing!" she said to Touga. "Brynn hasn't been beaten since... since... well five years ago when you sparred last!" 

Brynn played the polite loser as the rest of the Blades came up and congratulated Touga, wondering over his stunning victory. None of them had expected it of course, and all of them seemed to genuinely believe Touga had won of his own merit. Brynn breathed a sigh of relief, glad that her ruse had worked. She hoped fervently that she would never have to do anything like that again; throwing the match had gone against her sense of honor and honesty. 

But the look of happiness on Touga's lined face made it worth it. 

_I'm happy for you too, Master,_ she thought. _But I'll never spar with you again._

__

*** 

After the match in the courtyard the Blades and their guest ate an early dinner and swapped stories until dark. Touga wanted to explain his reasons for coming -apparently he had some important business to discuss with Brynn- but Brynn insisted on saving that discussion until the morning. 

"This night is for laughing, not for business, Master," she said solemnly. "It's been too long since I've seen you, and the years in between have been too full of tears to let tonight go by in serious talk." 

So they laughed and joked, and Haer'Dalis sang the ballads he wrote about the Blades' adventures, and Aerie, Nalia, Imoen and Dynaheir conjured up pretty illusion pictures for them all while Minsc told stories of Rasheman. In return Touga told about _his_ life in the five years since he had left Candlekeep behind, and though his stories were not so dramatic and spectacular, they were just as fun to listen to. 

It was well past midnight when the party broke up and everyone went to bed. A servant led Touga to one of the keep's guest rooms and settled him in, but he did not stay there long. As soon as he was sure the servant was gone, he left his room, leaving his cloak on his bed, but taking his katana with him -he always took his katana with him unless customs and circumstances forbid it- and went to the roof, seeking a little fresh air to clear his head. He did not notice that he was being followed at first, but then he caught a glimpse of a shadow being cast in the moonlight. He reached for the hilt of his katana, his fingers tightening around it, and he found comfort in the familiar feel of it in his hand. 

"There is no need for that, Touga-san," Yoshimo called to him in their native language, stepping out of the shadows that had been hiding him. "I assure you I did not come to kill you in the night. Brynn would not be pleased." 

Touga whirled around and, in the same tongue, snarled, "Then why did you sneak up on me like an assassin with your foul ninja tricks." 

Yoshimo chuckled lightly. "I'm not a ninja, Touga-san, I'm a bounty hunter. And I didn't sneak up on you, I wasn't even trying to hide." 

"Then why did you follow me, _bounty hunter_?" Touga demanded. 

Yoshimo shrugged. "Curiosity I suppose. I was wondering why you had returned here." 

"That," Touga growled, "is none of your business." 

"It is," Yoshimo argued. "It's my business because it's Brynn's business, and anything that concerns her concerns me as well." He paused and gave Touga an serious look. "She is my light, old man, she saved my soul and my life and I'm indebted to her, but more than that, I love her, and she loves me." 

Touga frowned, wondering how the innocent girl he had known could have gotten mixed up with a ninja...a bounty hunter like Yoshimo. He thought she had honor. "You are lying." 

"I'm not," Yoshimo replied evenly. "I've no reason to lie, Touga-san, especially since if I was you could easily uncover my lie. I'm telling you the truth. I'm very... protective... of Brynn, and there's something not right about you, Touga-san, I can sense it on you. You're hiding something about why you're here, and I wanted to tell you in private that if that something that you're hiding bring Brynn harm I'll make sure you don't live to regret it long." 

Touga laughed with contempt. "Even Brynn herself could not defeat me. What makes you believe that you, a dog-piss bounty hunter could?" 

Yoshimo looked at him long and hard, and Touga met his eyes with equal ferocity. Yoshimo looked away first, by choice though, Touga noticed, not because the bounty hunter couldn't meet his gaze. 

"Just keep in mind," Yoshimo said at last, in western common instead of his native language, "that if harm comes to Brynn you will suffer the consequences. Good night, Touga-san." He bowed mock-reverently, and then turned away from Touga and walked off. 

Touga watched Yoshimo disappear again into the shadows of the night, catching a ripple of the hems of his tunic a moment after he faded out of sight. He gripped the hilt of his katana harder, but found no comfort in the familiar feel of it in his palm. He wondered how Brynn could possibly stand Yoshimo's company, let alone... let alone be _romantic_ with him. Touga was sure he knew his pupil better than that. They had trained together for ten years and had spent a great deal of time together outside of the training, Touga learning western common and Brynn learning the common dialect of Wa, as well as facts about the culture. He was sure he knew Brynn better than that. She couldn't have changed _that_ much, she still couldn't beat him sparring. 

He turned his eyes to the moon just as it passed behind a fat clump of cumulus clouds, darkening the night even further, and decided that Yoshimo was up to no good, and that before long he would reveal that treachery to Brynn. 

To Be Continued 

______________________________________________________________________________ 

So what has Touga Kurai returned for anyway, and why in the world did he leave Candlekeep in the first place? The old wounds and anger between Touga and Yoshimo deepens as both men try to find out just what the other's hidden agenda is. 


	4. Touga's Request

Chapter 4: 

Touga's Request 

Brynn leaned over the library table looking Touga intently in the eyes and asked, "So, tell me, why are you here?" Touga leaned back in his chair and folded his arms over his chest. He closed his eyes briefly, and the library was very quiet as all the Blades, even Yoshimo who was leaning guardedly against the door jam, waited with eager ears to hear what Touga had to say. 

"After I left Candlekeep I wandered for some time," Touga began quietly. "I told you that last night. At your request, little one, I left out the most important destination that I traveled to: my homeland." 

Yoshimo stopped leaning and stood up straight, an alert and attentive look in his dark eyes. 

"There," Touga continued, "I journeyed secretly to see once more my former betrothed, a lady samurai of great honor and skill, and found that she had been unjustly imprisoned, exiled to a barren prison island to the end of her days." 

Nalia spoke up. "Why in the world would they have done something like that?" She looked curious and affronted. "I mean, you said she was _unjustly_ imprisoned, right?" 

Touga nodded. "Indeed she was," he confirmed. "She was accused of perpetrating treason against the Shogun, but she did not." 

"Treason? And she was only _exiled?_" Yoshimo scoffed. 

"She is a favored relative of the Emperor," Touga said stiffly. "He spared her life." 

Frowning, Brynn asked, "So what do you need from me?" 

"I ask your help, little one," Touga replied. "I am ashamed to admit that I could not free my former betrothed on my own, but I cannot in good conscience let her be imprisoned without having commited a crime." 

"That's a tall order, Master," Brynn said, leaning her head in one hand with a sigh. "I mean, just getting into Wa..." 

"I was able to get back in without trouble," Touga pointed out. 

Brynn laughed. "I know, Master, but you're not a blonde-haired blue-eyed half-elf. I could conceivably be disguised, but how in the world would you disguise say, Minsc here?" She pointed to the tall, ranger. "Or Haer'Dalis?" 

"I planned only for you and myself, little one," Touga replied. 

A cool look came into Brynn's eyes, as it always did when someone, even unwittingly, suggested she just _leave_ her friends -and Yoshimo- behind. "I'm sorry, Master," she said, collecting herself enough to keep the coolness in her blue eyes from reaching her voice, "but the Blades work together, _always_." She smiled lightly. "Besides, you said yourself that you couldn't free your former betrothed on your own. If that's the case, even together we would be hard put to get her out." 

Touga nodded. "I see," he said. "If your 'Blades' were included would you consider my request?" 

"Of course I would, Master," Brynn said reassuringly. "I owe you still for all the training you gave me, and for your friendship. Even if you don't train me anymore, you are still my Master." She paused. "_But_... I will have to discuss it with my companions in private and get their opinions. We're a team, and I value them all." 

Touga nodded again. "Then I will take my leave. Can you recommend a quiet place in the keep? I would like to meditate." 

"Your room ought to be quiet enough, Master," Brynn said. "I'll come find you there when I've finished talking with the others." 

Bowing slightly, Touga said, "Thank you, little one," and then left. He frowned fiercely as he passed by Yoshimo on the way out, and Yoshimo returned his look with equal ferocity. 

Brynn shook her head, then, leaning back in her chair asked, "So, what do you think?" 

"I counsel caution," Jaheira said quietly. "This mission, though not as dangerous as many we have accepted, is fraught with peril, and not to be taken lightly." 

"Well, we can't just let that poor woman be imprisoned for something she didn't do!" Nalia protested, obviously taken by the plight of Touga's former betrothed. 

Dynaheir frowned and shifted in her seat next to Minsc. "However," she said, directing her words to Brynn, "I must remind you that we have no right to interfere with the internal workings of a foreign nation. If by the laws of this 'Wa' the lady has been imprisoned, what right have we to free her?" 

"Oh my," said Aerie from Minsc's other side, "she has a point. I mean, what would we do if someone did the same thing in Amn?" 

"Probably nothing," Nalia remarked irritably. 

From the far end of the table Mazzy scooted herself so that she sat taller in her chair and said, "Mayhap the lady Nalia is correct, however I am not sure that I can in good conscience free a woman, who by this Touga's word alone, is innocent. Justice must be done, no matter what." 

"It's not just to leave a woman imprisoned for something she didn't do!" Nalia pointed out firmly. 

"I think that Mazzy's point is that we can't know if this woman really is innocent or n...not," Khalid said gently. "If she _is_ guilty of treason we can't very well free her." 

Brynn cut in, "I can end that debate right now," she said. "Touga woudn't lie, not to me. If he says the woman is innocent, she is." 

"My lady," Anomen said cautiously, "can you be certain of that? I too am appaled, like lady Nalia, that an innocent woman could at this very moment be imprisoned, but if she is not innocent I, like Mazzy, could not help to free her." 

"There's no doubt, Anomen," Brynn assured him. "Touga wouldn't lie to me." 

"Brynn's right," Imoen said. "The old man is honest to a fault." 

"If his honesty cannot be questioned, than I am for rescuing this maiden," Mazzy said with certainty. 

"Aye," Anomen agreed. 

Dynaheir and Aerie voice their agreement too. 

Brynn looked at Minsc, "And you, what do you think?" 

Minsc smiled broadly. "Where Minsc's witches go, so go Minsc and Boo. Isn't that right, Boo?" He stroked the hamster under the chin with one huge finger, and Boo closed his eyes in happiness, or agreement. Which it was only Minsc truly knew. 

"Haer'Dalis?" Brynn asked, grinning at the bard. 

"My raven, if this is adventure looming on our horizon not even the gods could hold me back," Haer'Dalis told her. "This easy life has become far to easy, methinks." 

Brynn lastly turned to Yoshimo, who had kept quite silent the whole time the others were discussing their options. "And you, _aijin?_" she asked gently. 

Yoshimo looked at her, the expression in his dark eyes one of a man torn between two things of equal weight. "I... I would like to see my homeland again," he said after a moment. "Even if it means helping a man I am... less than fond of." 

Brynn smiled at him. "Well," she said briskly as she pushed her chair away from the library table and stood up, "that appears to be that. I'll go speak with Master Touga and get some more details from him." Her mind was whirring as she went began to plan the Blades' miniature invasion. "Haer'Dalis, do you think you could some how contact our good friend Saemon Havarian? I think we'll be needing his services." 

"I will have the sailor at your doorstep begging to help you within a tenday, my raven," Haer'Dalis promised grandiosely. He smiled rakishly at Brynn, aping Havarian's suave behavior perfectly. "There's not a task _this_ man can't do for you, m'lady," he assured her, also mimicking the infamous rogue's speech. 

Laughing a little Brynn turned to Jaheira and Khalid. "Do you think the two of you could go into Athkatla and collect Jan Jansen? I've got something I need for him to invent for us." 

Khalid sighed. "Of course, Brynn. But gods do I hate that city!" 

"I know," Brynn sympathized. "and if you get the chance, say hello to Bernard at the Copper Coronet, and figure out what the hell Viconia is up to... I don't want to leave her in Athkatla without us to back her up against those ravening mobs she tends to attract. It isn't safe for her." 

Jaheira frowned. "Do you mean you want us to bring her back with us?" she asked flatly. 

Brynn sized up her longtime friend and companion. She knew that Jaheira and Viconia didn't exactly get along -fact of the matter was that Viconia didn't get along well with _anyone_- but Brynn had taken responsibility for keeping Viconia safe not quite a year before, and she wasn't going to shirk her duty to the drow cleric. Viconia had, after all, helped them several times, most notably during the Blades' final attack on the vampire Bodhi's lair in the graveyard district. 

"If you deem it wise," Brynn told the warrior druid, putting a slight emphasis on the word 'wise'. She knew Jaheira would do the right thing, even if she didn't like Viconia. 

Jaheira nodded and said, "I understand." She didn't seem happy about it though. 

"Okay, Imoen, Nalia, Aerie, Dynaheir," Brynn continued turning to the four mages, "We are going to need some really great disguises when we get to Wa, and I mean _great_. The only way I can think of to make the lot of us look like natives of Wa is through magic, and lots of it. I figure that that is your department." 

"Wonderful," Imoen said with a touch a sarcasm. "Here I thought we were going to get off easy." 

"Yeah, little sister, I know," Brynn said. She turned to Yoshimo. "I'm going to need to pick your brain, love. I've got to know _everything_ you know about Wa and the lands we've got to travel through to get there. Since you and Touga are the only ones of us who've been that far east we'll be relying on your information." 

Yoshimo smiled crookedly at her. "You are turning into a first-class general, _aijin_." 

Which of course meant, 'I'll be glad to help, just keep your breeches on, and for heaven's sake don't start giving out orders like you're a deity. You gave up godhood, remember?' 

Brynn smiled back. "Right," she said. "Mazzy, Anomen, Minsc, you guys, along with Touga and I, are the brute force division. Where labor needs to be done, we do it. Also, I'm going to have to train you all to use a katana, we've got to fit in while were in Wa, and that means knowing the fighting style." Minsc looked lost, Mazzy looked intrigued, and Anomen looked dismayed at this news, but Brynn figured they'd all get over it. She looked around the room, gauging her friends' feelings on their new tasks, and then said, "Well, that about covers it. If you run into trouble find me and well fix it. Meanwhile, I'm going to go talk to Touga. See you for lunch or whatever." She smiled broadly at them all and left the room, giving Yoshimo a kiss on the cheek as she went out the door. 

She almost ran down the hall to Touga's room, her cheeks flushed with excitement and a smile on her lips that wouldn't go away no matter what. She was a warrior, a Kensai, and her place was in battle no matter how much she liked to spend a the occasional moment in peace and quiet. She loved adventure, and she couldn't wait for her new quest to get fully underway. 

*** 

Later that day, as the sun began to set, Touga found himself sitting on the edge of one of the battlements, looking out over the forest. He enjoyed the peace he found there, and the view of the setting sun was one that he would not have wanted to miss. Unfortunately, he had trouble, despite the peace -or perhaps _because_ of it- keeping his mind off certain things. When there was nothing to keep him distracted his mind tended to return to a few key problems. 

Problem number one was Brynn's insistence that her friends come with them to Wa. He did not necessarily _dislike_ any of the Blades, other than Yoshimo, he just didn't want them to come along. He didn't trust their skills, because he hadn't seen them, and he wasn't quite ready to trust Brynn assessment. After all, he had defeated Brynn in their match the day before, proving that he was the better fighter, and therefore the better leader and judge. 

Problem number two was Yoshimo, and the ninja scum was just about as much of a problem as Touga had ever seen. Yoshimo had Brynn's ear, and if what was being said was to be believed, her bed too -something Touga just didn't want to believe- and all of that made for complications. 

Problem number three... well he didn't want to think about problem number three, it was distracting, and besides which, if he thought about it the Blades might figure out that he was hiding something. Even despite this caution it seemed to him that the unsettling bard, Haer'Dalis, had caught a whiff of what problem number three was during the meeting that morning. Problem number three was a secret, and Touga wanted to make sure it stayed that way. He reconciled his slight untruthfulness over the matter with the urgency of his mission. It was necessary. 

When the sun had fallen entirely below the horizon, only limning the trees with a pale reddish-violet glow, Touga returned to the castle and made for his rooms, hoping to wash before dinner. Western hygiene had always been rather foul to Touga, who had been raised to understand that filth of the body was equivalent to filth of the soul, and he had always made sure never to let his personal habits become corrupted by his surroundings. He had been pleased to discover that Brynn had learned to follow his suit and demand cleanliness from her servants and request it from her companions. She had told him earlier that a month ago she had turned one of the unused rooms in the lowest floor of the castle into something resembling a eastern style bath, and Touga was eager to try it out and see how things compared. 

He made his way down to the bath after collecting a clean kimono from his meager belongings and gratefully shed his dirty clothes as he slipped into the heated water of the bath. Leaning against the stone wall of the bath he breathed in the steam and looked around. The water was just hot enough, he decided, not quite hot enough to burn, but close. It made him feel as if the grime he had collected during his travels and during the day were melting off of his skin. The granite walls of the room, which Brynn had told him had once been a prison, might very well have been gloomy had they not been hung with vividly embroidered tapestries and lit with ever-burning wall sconces. It seemed almost a waste to Touga, to use that sort of magic on something so mundane, but then again it seemed highly appropiate too. There was something divine about a good bath, and he gave credit to Brynn for doing her best to replicate such a thing from only the scraps of information he had given her. 

Touga sighed as the hot water loosened his muscles and soothed some of the aches out of his aging joints. He was getting old, no doubt about that. He had numbered twenty years when he had left Wa, and now he was forty-six, well into his middle years and approaching old age far more rapidly than he wanted. He smiled. But he still had it. It had been difficult, certainly, to defeat Brynn the day before, but then Brynn had always been a superior student, perhaps the best he had ever trained, but he was still her Master. He had been afraid that she would defeat him at first, and he had been very relieved when she hadn't. He would have been proud of her, but ashamed that he had let his age get to him, and especially ashamed that all of the keep had seen it. 

The door to the bath opened, catching Touga's attention, and one of the Blades, the half-elven warrior called Khalid he thought, entered. The half-elf nodded in greeting, stripped and gingerly got into the bath, wincing a little as the hot water enveloped him. 

"I don't think I'll _ever_ get used to water th...this hot," Khalid commented. He gritted his teeth a little as he tried to adjust to the temperature. 

Touga closed his eyes. Half-elves, and even more so pure blooded elves, had always struck him as frail, Brynn be the exception to that rule in his mind. Khalid's occasional tendency to stutter a little seemed to him as one more sign of the weakness of elven blood. He tried not to hold that against Khalid though, after it wasn't his fault he had been born of weaker bloodlines. 

"In my homeland," Touga said after a few moments, "we grow up bathing in water this hot. If you are not used to it I am not surprised. You did not have my upbringing." 

"Er... yes," Khalid agreed. He said nothing for sometime, which was fine with Touga, he liked relaxing in peace and quiet, but then the half-elf spoke again. "It was interesting to hear what you've been doing since you left Candlekeep. I dare say you've had adventures to rival those of the Blades." 

"Indeed," Touga said simply. 

"I... I was curious," Khalis ventured cautiously, "why _did _you leave Candlekeep?" 

Touga was quiet, collecting his thoughts and trying to calm himself. In the west, he had learned, rudeness was acceptable so long as it came in the guise of curiosity. "There was nothing more I could teach Brynn at the time," he said. 

"Yesterday it certainly seemed like you did," Khalid remarked with a little laugh. 

Touga opened his eyes, feeling more than a little irritated at Khalid's lack of manners. "I learned much on my travels," he said firmly. Then, no longer enjoying the bath, he got out, dried himself off, put on his fresh kimono, and left. 

*** 

"That fellow is colored by deception to my eyes," Haer'Dalis remarked, dropping his invisibility spell and addressing Khalid. 

Khalid looked at the tiefling. "But you heard Brynn... he doesn't lie." 

Haer'Dalis grinned. "Methinks he does. Oh, certainly he did not like just now, I believe he merely withheld the full extent of the truth. Earlier today, however, he did not seem to me to be truthful with us." 

"At the meeting?" Khalid asked. 

"Aye, your memory is as sharp as a falcon's vision, my friend," Haer'Dalis confirmed. "Did you note the way he struggled over the word 'betrothed'? To my mind it was as if this fair maiden he wishes to deliver from torment was never his betrothed at all. Mayhap she was merely a lady he fancied, or mayhap there is something more, but still the word sang out of lies to me." 

"Do you think Yoshimo's right? That we shouldn't trust Touga completely?" 

Haer'Dalis grin widened. "Good sir, I trust no one completely, save for Brynn. I believe that our new friend should be kept under observation on the chance that he is _not_ trustworthy as Yoshimo suggests, but then again I also believe that we needs must keep an eye on Yoshimo as well. Clearly the two men do not like one another, I dare to say they _hate_ one another even. As far as each are concerned, I would take words about the other with a pinch of salt and an eye for bias." 

"I see," said Khalid, looking a bit grim. 

"Come on, man," Haer'Dalis, "smile else the hounds will catch the scent of deception. Let us away to dinner and put these thoughts to the backs of our minds for now, safe for reference anon." 

"Er... yes, I suppose that's a good idea," Khalid agreed, not quite sure of everything Haer'Dalis had said. That was a fault with bards. They made every sentence so flowery that it became confusing. He climbed out of the bath, dried and dove into his clothes while Haer'Dalis politely took a moment to inspect the stonework. 

"I will follow after you have gone," Haer'Dalis told him. "Lest the partridge catch wind of his stalkers." 

"Ah... sure," Khalid said. "See you at dinner." 

Haer'Dalis bowed grandly. "Until then, friend." 

With that Khalid hurried up the stairs. He wondered if he ought to tell Jaheira what he had found out, but decided to wait until after dinner when the two of them were alone. Haer'Dalis was right, it would do no good to let Touga catch wind of their concerns. 


	5. Plans in Motion

Chapter 5: Plans in Motion  
  
The very next morning Khalid and Jaheira left for Athkatla, and Haer'Dalis left to go find Saemon Havarian. The bard's task was a distinctly more difficult one, but Brynn was confident that if anyone could manage it, it would be Haer'Dalis. With the three of them gone the keep was a little quieter, but not by much. The very walls seemed to be almost vibrating with the excitement of the Blades as they prepared for their newest adventure.  
  
Brynn was so excited she felt a little jittery, so to calm herself she indulged in a longer than normal practice session with her swords on the lawn outside the keep. Eyes close to the morning sun, she gracefully moved through a series of exercises, a kata. Each movement was like a dance, or a work of art, or a poem perhaps; it was meant to be beautiful, but also meant to prepare the body, and, equally as important, prepare the mind, for a battle. When she was through she went through the kata again, working to perfect the flex of every muscle, to cut with the perfect force and dexterity, to flow through each movement like water. By the third time through, sweat was pouring down her forehead, slicking her long hair to her back and her sleeveless tunic and her leggings to her skin. Her eyes stung because sweat had seeped into them even though they were closed, and sweat made her grip on the hilts of her katanas hard to manage. She kept going anyway.  
  
She felt the position of the sun shift slowly as she practice, from directly in her face to above her head, and at last she stopped. Her knees threatened to give way, and she sat down hard on the grass, breathing hard. At last she opened her eyes and wiped the sweat from her face with her forearm. She leaned backward, resting her head on the ground, and closed her eyes again, willing her heart and breathing to slow, and after a while they obeyed her.  
  
Finally she got to her feet again, feeling refreshed and focused. The usual onlookers, guards leaning against the castle walls as they passed by on their patrols, maids who were going about their chores, had gathered to watch their Lady practice, and Brynn smiled at them and waved them onto their business. Ashamed that they had been staring, they hurried off.  
  
Sometimes others waited patiently on the grass nearby for Brynn to finish her daily practice routine. Not even Yoshimo dared bother Brynn for anything less than an invasion while she was practicing her katas. It was her one time to be truly alone with herself, and she treasured the privacy. Today, Brynn's major domo waited for her, looking vaguely off put for being made to wait longer than usual, and coming across the drawbridge was Imoen.  
  
Brynn scooped up her tunic from the grass beneath a nearby tree and dried herself as best she could with it, then put it on. "Something going on?" she asked the major domo.  
  
The major domo sniffed, something he habitually did before speaking, and said, "Yes, my lady, it seems that several of the farmers are requesting an audience with you... after you change and bathe of course."  
  
Brynn shook her head. "I won't make them wait for me," she said. She smelled her tunic and under tunic. "I don't stink too badly, so I don't think they'll mind."  
  
The major domo's cheek twitched briefly. "As you wish, my lady. Please follow me."  
  
As they passed by Imoen on the way into the keep, Brynn smiled at her sister and called out, "Something you need?"  
  
Imoen fell into step next to Brynn. "Just to talk to you about these disguises. It can wait until whatever you're doing gets done."  
  
Brynn nodded. "Could you run and get Nalia for me? If I'm ever going to hand this keep over to her she's got to learn how to run it. Tell her I'll be in the grand hall."  
  
"Right!" Imoen said. She dashed into courtyard, up the stairs to the second floor entrance and into the castle.  
  
"There are servants for that, my lady," the major domo said. "There is no need for the Lady Imoen..."  
  
"Imoen doesn't seem to mind. She likes to run," Brynn replied. "Besides, there were no servants right here to ask."  
  
"Very good, my lady," the major domo said, sniffing indifferently.  
  
Inside the grand hall two men, twins if the way one's features exactly mirrored the other's were any clue, were waiting for Brynn.  
  
"Presenting the Lady Brynn Trueblade," the major domo said grandly. "My lady this is Norbet and this Nolson, farmers."  
  
Brynn waved him away and gestured for both of them men to have a seat. "So, please tell me what the problem is gentlemen."  
  
Both men began at the same time.  
  
"Well, ye see m'lady..."  
  
"It's like this, m'lady..."  
  
They stopped and glared at one another.  
  
"You first er... Norbet," Brynn said, pointing to the man on the right.  
  
Norbet smirked at Nolson. "Well, m'lady, this berk's cows broke through the fence 'tween our two farms an' ruined me crops. Et all me carrots n' all me squash, they did!"  
  
"Aye, berk, but yer bloody fence cut me cows up," Nolson rebutted angrily. He turned beseeching eyes on Brynn. "I 'ad to butcher one 'o me best dairy cows. Now 'e wants me t'pay fer his crops, but 'e won't pay fer my cattle!"  
  
"T'was yer job to make sure the fence was built proper!" Norbet growled. "So's yer fault yer damn cows got hurt."  
  
"T'was not me job to keep the fence proper, t'was yourn!" Nolson accused.  
  
"Twas not!"  
  
"T'was so!"  
  
Brynn interrupted. "Aren't the two of you ashamed to be arguing like children? You're brothers, aren't you? Why aren't you able to work this out on your own?"  
  
"How'd ye know we were brothers?" Nolson and Norbet asked at the same time, both wearing the same expression of awe.  
  
Brynn sighed. "Never mind that," she said. "What I want to know is why you had to bring this to me."  
  
"'E won't pay fer me cows until I pay for 'is crops!"  
  
"'E won't pay fer me crops until I pay for 'is cows!"  
  
Hearing footsteps coming down the wooden stairs into the grand hall, Brynn turned and was relieved to see Nalia coming to join the meeting. "Wonderful!" she exclaimed. "Gentlemen, would you please tell Lady Nalia your complaints."  
  
Both men began at the same time, again.  
  
"One at a time, Norbet, you first," Brynn directed.  
  
So the twin brothers told their story again to Nalia, who seemed just as bothered by their complaints as Brynn. "Why don't you just pay at the same time?" she asked.  
  
"Well, ye see m'lady," Nolson said, grabbing his stained cap and twisting it in his hands, "I shouldn't 'ave t'pay. T'was Norbet's job to keep the fence in good repair."  
  
"T'was not!"  
  
"T'was!"  
  
"T'was n..."  
  
"Quiet!" Brynn ordered.  
  
Norbet and Nolson were very, very quiet.  
  
"Now, it seems to me that both of you are equally at fault," Brynn continued calmly. "No matter what, both of you were responsible for that fence, and therefore both of you are responsible for the damages to the other's property. If you didn't want Nolson's cows in your fields, then you would have seen to the fence," she said to Norbet, "and if you didn't want your cows to get injured you would have seen to the fence too," she added to Nolson. "Wouldn't you agree, Nalia?"  
  
Nalia nodded. "Yes," she said.  
  
"And what would you suggest I do, Nalia?" Brynn asked her.  
  
"Well, I would have some independent party assess the value of the lost crops and livestock, and have them cover the cost," Nalia said carefully, her forehead knotted with thought. "Next, I would have both men pay for the replacement of the fence equally and have them work together to build a new one, then require both to insure it's upkeep for as long as they share that property line."  
  
Brynn smiled. "Exactly what I was thinking." She turned to the two farmers. "Now, hear my judgment!"  
  
Nolson and Norbet stood up very straight and looked very solemn. "Yes m'lady!" they said in unison.  
  
"First off I will assign an independent investigator to assess the damage to each of your property," Brynn said. "Next, Norbet will pay in full the cost of the damage to Nolson's cows, and Nolson will pay in full the cost of the damage to Norbet's crops. Third, both of you will pay for a replacement fence and work together to build it and maintain it, taking equal responsibility for all repairs and damage done to it for as long as you share that property line. Do you understand?"  
  
"Yes m'lady!"  
  
"Good. I wish you both the best of luck," Brynn told them.  
  
Each feeling satisfied, Nolson and Norbet allowed the major domo to escort them to the door.  
  
Brynn turned to Nalia. "Good job," she told the young human mage. "I'll be turning the keep over to you in no time at all."  
  
Nalia merely smiled, and Brynn wondered what exactly that meant. After all, didn't Nalia want to take over running her own keep at some point? Or did she just expect Brynn to take care of it forever? Brynn decided that was a question best left to time when she didn't have so many other things to be doing.  
  
"Nalia, do you think you could tell one of the maids to find Imoen and tell her to meet me in the office?" Brynn asked. "She had something she wanted to talk to me about before I got busy taking care of keep business."  
  
"Oh yes! That!" Nalia exclaimed. "I can tell you if you want."  
  
Brynn thought about it for a moment, and then said, "Sure, if Imoen has something to add I'll catch up to her later."  
  
Nalia nodded. "You see, Brynn, we were discussing the disguises this morning, and it's a very complicated business. After all, it's not easy to make one of us look, sound and act like someone from Wa, not without much more magic than we have the time for."  
  
Brynn said, "I know, I have no clue how we're going to ever be able to pass a big oaf like Minsc off."  
  
Nalia gave Brynn a look of agreement. "Precisely. Besides, so much magic would be obvious to anyone with the means to detect it, so Imoen, Dynaheir, Aerie and I came up with an idea or two. Firstly, we can use an illusion spell to make everyone looking like they belong in Kara-Tur, and another spell can be used to translate what we say and what is said to us."  
  
"Sounds like a plan," Brynn told her. "What's the next part?"  
  
"Well, this is where it gets... tricky," Nalia said. "As you know the customs of Wa are distinctly different that the customs of the Sword Coast, and no illusion spell can mask a serious social error of the kind we would all undoubtedly commit. This means that we all need to be taught in short order everything that a native of Wa would have been taught from childhood."  
  
"Thank the gods we have to natives of Wa on hand," Brynn said with a lopsided smile.  
  
"Exactly," Nalia confirmed. "We can use magic to change the physical aspects of the Blades, but I believe a intense study of the traditions and customs of Wa is in order."  
  
"Anything more?"  
  
Nalia shrugged. "A couple of things," she said. "We're going to need appropriate clothing, that sort of thing is hard to manage perfectly with illusions, and I think when Haer'Dalis gets back we will all need acting lessons so that we don't unconsciously betray our foreign origins."  
  
"Definitely. I agree completely," Brynn said. She clapped Nalia on the shoulder. "Thanks for all the effort you're putting into this."  
  
Nalia smiled at her. "It's no problem, we have a mission to accomplish."  
  
"I know," Brynn said to her, "but it really isn't your mission, it's mine and Touga's, so I'm glad that you're willing to help out."  
  
Nalia raised an eyebrow. "We're the Blades of Honor, and you're our fearless leader, Brynn. Your mission is our mission, and like you said to Touga we're a team." She sighed. "Speaking of mission, I'll go find Imoen and tell her that I've talked to you." She grinned and walked up the stairs and out of the great hall.  
  
Brynn stood where she was for a moment, and then she too left the hall. Nalia's right, she thought, even I said it was their mission too, but for some reason I just can't shake the feeling that maybe I shouldn't be getting everyone involved. This is, after all a personal favor from me to Master Touga. But then, she decided after a moment, I'm really going to need everyone when push comes to shove. Brynn considered the matter as she walked up to her office on the keep's upper floor, knowing somehow that she had made the right choice -the only choice- in deciding that this mission to Wa was something all the Blades should be involved in.  
  
But something's going to go wrong, her mind whispered to her. Don't be silly, something always goes wrong, she chided herself. Something always goes wrong, and this time will be no different. All we can do is prepare ourselves so that when that something does go wrong we'll be ready.  
  
To Be Continued ____________________________________________________________________________ __ I'm so unbelieveably sorry that loading this chapter took so long! I've been so busy getting ready to go to college in the fall that getting this chapter up kind of got put on the back burner. I've also been away from my computer for a lot of the time this summer -I went with my sister to her college in New Hampshire at the end of June, and then was up at my cottage on and off all July. Then, when I finally had the chapter the way I wanted it, I had trouble getting it to upload in html format. Arrrrgh! Hopefully the next chapters will arrive more regularly than this one did!  
  
Thanks for your patience The Blue Sorceress 


	6. The Party Animal and The Forgetful Inven...

Chapter 6: The Party Animal and the Forgetful Inventor  
  
"I don't even know where to begin with this," Brynn said, gazing wide- eyed at the mess that the courtyard had become. Stacks of planking, rough- hammered sheets of metal and bits and bobs of all manner of other items, some of which Brynn couldn't even hope to begin to identify littered the area, leaned up against the stone walls and blocked half of the gate.  
  
Jan Jansen turned his knobby face toward her. The gnome's dark eyes were magnified to three or four times their normal size by the lenses of the insanely complex pair of work goggles he wore over his eyes. In his hands he clutched a device the size of a squash. It was the product of six weeks of intense labor, and the only thing that had come out of the mess in the courtyard. "What d'you mean?" Jan asked.  
  
"I mean this!" Brynn said, waving her hands around to indicate the chaos that surrounded them. "All of this, for that? It's tiny!"  
  
Jan took his goggles off, and his bushy brows came together, forming one big hairy caterpillar over his eyes. "Well if you don't like it I guess I'll just be going. And I'm taking this," he clutched the device to his chest possessively, "with me!"  
  
"That's not what I meant," Brynn said to him. "It's just, well, couldn't you have done that," she pointed at the device, "without doing that?" her finger moved to the largest pile of odds and ends in the courtyard.  
  
"Hey! This is a work of art here!" Jan protested. "You wouldn't go up to an painter and demand an answer like that from him would you?"  
  
"I would if he, in the process of making his masterpiece, had splattered the courtyard with paints and left brushes and palettes all over the ground," Brynn answered back. "Look at this place! Didn't your mother ever teach you to clean up after yourself?"  
  
"Of course she did," Jan replied. "But, when you're creating a... a work of fine craftsmanship, with the most brilliant design ever before dreamed of by man or gnome, you're entitled to a little creative leeway."  
  
Brynn sighed. "Okay, okay, I give in. Your mess has won. Now please, would you tell me how that misshapen lump of gears and whatnot does?"  
  
Jan shrugged and splayed his hands. "I don't know. I know that it does something, but I'm not quite sure what."  
  
"What?" Brynn demanded, her voice rising in pitch and volume so much that Jan winced and the guards on duty on the castle walls looked down into the courtyard to see what was wrong. Brynn took a moment to calm herself and then said, "If you don't know what it does how in the world are you going to make it work so that we don't drowned on the way into Wa?"  
  
Jan frowned, his caterpillar eyebrows pulling together again. "Well you don't need to get so shrill, you know," he said. "My uncle Jorgen had a wife that did that, and after a month the only time he saw her was when he got caught sneaking in and out of the house hoping to avoid..."  
  
"Jan please, please, please," Brynn said, rubbing her temples in hopes of staving of the headache she knew was coming, "no stories right now. Uncle Jorgen can wait until my brain stops hurting."  
  
"I'll tell you all about it later," Jan said with a smile and a nod. "You know, I've always found that the best thing for a headache is a turnip. When I was a young gnome my mother..."  
  
Brynn made a noise that sounded almost like a whimper -if it was a whimper she never would have admitted it- and for the umpteenth time wondered if Jan had been the right gnome for the job. "Jan, you remember what I asked you to build, right?" she asked.  
  
Jan said, "Oh yes, a submersible craft for a stealthy and swift invasion of this Wa place. I remember very well."  
  
"Okay," Brynn said, letting some of the stress bleed out of her. At least he knew what he was doing, that was plus. "So, can you tell me how such a craft can be built if you have spent the last six weeks working on one part of it, and you don't even know what that part does?"  
  
Jan blinked. "Oh, this has nothing at all to do with that," he said, his fingers absently stroking his creation with the same sort of affection a mother might stroke her child's hair. "This is of a pet project of mine that I wanted to work on."  
  
"What!?"  
  
This time Brynn's cry of dismay caused a small flock of pigeons that had been perching on the castle roof to take flight in a pandemonium of dismayed cooing and flapping wings.  
  
Jan shook his head as if to get his ears to stop ringing. "Well you see..."  
  
"Jan, you were supposed to be working on that submerwhatever," Brynn said through clenched teeth. "How are we going to get into Wa without it?"  
  
"Oh don't worry, I've had that done for weeks," Jan said proudly. "My cousin Jens had one already designed, all I had to do was alter a few things." Jan reached into one of his many pockets and withdrew a tiny model. "It becomes full-sized when the activation word it spoken."  
  
"Why... why didn't you tell me sooner?" Brynn wanted to know, her voice tense with irritation.  
  
"I forgot," Jan said. "I got busy working on my masterpiece and forgot."  
  
Brynn let out a sigh of dismay and shook her head. There was no point in getting angry at Jan, she decided, and so she let her irritation flow of her like water off a duck's back. "Well, you remembered it now, and I suppose that's all that matters," she said after a moment. "Since you've finished your 'masterpiece' why don't you start getting this place cleaned up and then go help out Nalia, Aerie, Imoen and Dynaheir with what they're doing. As soon as that's done with, and Haer'Dalis gets back with Havarian we can go."  
  
***  
  
Meanwhile, somewhere out to sea, on a sleek, beautiful sailing ship of the martial design, Saemon Havarian and Haer'Dalis sat on deck in the company of two lovely ladies and enjoyed a bottle of fine wine and a lovely sunset.  
  
"So, Haer'Dalis, you wanted to ask a favor of me?" Saemon asked. He lifted his lady friend off of his lap and slapped her affectionately on the bottom. "Off you go, love, this is business talk." The woman pouted, her ruby lips pursing cutely and her green eyes sparkling like two moist emeralds. It took all of Saemon's willpower to say, "Go on, off you go I said. I have to talk business with the fellow. I'll spend time with you later." He flashed a charming smile and the woman gave him a brilliant smile of her own before walking off, her hips swaying in a pleasing manner. He watched her go with a pleased grin.  
  
He turned to his tiefling companion and said, "Now of your friend would kindly depart..."  
  
Haer'Dalis looked like he was going to protest for a moment, then said, "As you wish. Come, my golden rose," he said to the blonde who was snuggled into his arms, "it is time for you to leave me, though it pains my heart so." The blonde giggled, kissed him on the cheek, and left to go below deck.  
  
"It is really most unfair, Saemon, to thrust into my arms such a lovely specimen of female flesh and then cruelly take her away so soon," Haer'Dalis told the corsair, his voice tinged with gentle rebuke.  
  
Havarian chuckled. "You've been here on my ship for a tenday now, and Lelia has been hanging on you since you first set foot aboard."  
  
"Ah, and what a splendid time it has been!" Haer'Dalis exclaimed wistfully. "Good food, good drink... good companionship. Is life always this pleasant for you?"  
  
Saemon shrugged. "It has its moments," he said. "I'm between endeavors at the moment."  
  
"Splendid!" Haer'Dalis said. "Splendid indeed! You of course remember Brynn Trueblade?"  
  
Saemon swallowed hard. "Err... eh, who could forget her." He half- smiled and added. "Well made lady that one."  
  
"It is at her request that I have journeyed and sought you out," Haer'Dalis said to Saemon. He paused and took a sip of wine. "She is in the market for a seaman of superlative skills, and her thought fell on you as a man who would fit the bill."  
  
"Well, I am an excellent sailor and captain," Saemon preened.  
  
"Very true," Haer'Dalis agreed. "So, would you be willing to assist Brynn in her quest?"  
  
Havarian scratching his chin thoughtfully. "Well, I can't very well do it for free... what is she willing to offer?"  
  
"Rest assured, the pay will be sufficient," Haer'Dalis guaranteed. "We have a number of resources available to us, and Brynn told me that she would pay you any sum within reason."  
  
Havarian grinned. "Well then, what are we waiting for!"  
  
To Be Continued  
  
____________________________________________________________________________ __ I hope I got Jan's personality right, I rarely had him in my party when I played the game so I'm not all that sure how he would act. I think I got his right, I'm just not real sure.  
  
The Blue Sorceress 


	7. The Storm

Chapter 6:

             "I hate sailing," Brynn said matter-of-factly as she struggled to keep her grip on a rain slicked rope.  The raging storm to which she had addressed her comments made no reply, being an inanimate weather phenomenon, and continued to blast cold rain in her face.  She braced herself as the deck tilted beneath her feet and a wave of epic proportions washed over her.   The wave tried to drag her off the ship as it left, but she was stronger than it and managed to keep her footing.  

            "Come on, pull the mainsail down before it gets shredded in this wind!"  Saemon shouted.

            _Easy for him to say, Brynn thought as she struggled to untie the rope in her hands __he's got the easy job: hanging on and shouting orders.  One hand clutching the rail for dear life she picked at the knotted rope until at last it came free.  Half a dozen sailors made haste to tie the mainsail to the boom before it blew away.  Meanwhile, Brynn made haste to get below decks where at least she wouldn't be in danger of being washed overboard.  _

            Cries of irritation greeted her as the Blades who had been lucky enough to escape storm duty protested the rain and seawater that came down to flood their relatively dry haven.  

"Yeah, yeah, love you guys too," Brynn muttered, closing the hatch.  She wiped her face with one hand and held on the ladder with the other.

"How does it look up there?" Aerie asked, her blue eyes wide and frightened.  

Brynn tried not to sound too irritable.  "How d'you think?" she replied.  "It's wet, it's dark, and it's not letting up any time soon."

"I'm sorry," Aerie said contritely.

"Don't be," Brynn told her, "I'm just grouchy because I'm soggy and I haven't eaten since… well I don't know, the point is I'm wet and cold and hungry."

Just then the hatch opened again and a wall of water and Minsc came down the ladder.  "Never have I seen so much water!" Minsc exclaimed.  "Boo is so wet that he looks like a drowned rat!"

"Close the hatch you dolt!" Jaheira shouted.

"Oh! I forgot!"  Minsc closed the hatch again and the influx of water ceased.  However, they were now ankle deep in the ocean, which wasn't good all things considered.  

Anyone who could had taken refuge on a top bunk in the main cabin, but those who weren't fast enough were subjected to sitting and standing in puddles or on soggy barrels and crates.  Brynn was sure there wasn't a square inch of dry wood in the cabin, but at least there wasn't more water coming down all the time and no one was in immediate danger of drowning.  The main cabin also had acquired an unpleasant smell: that of vomit.  Some of those below decks were suffering from acute seasickness, and Brynn had to admit that she wasn't feeling tip top herself.  

"We're all going to drown!" Nalia moaned. She looked green, and Brynn attributed some of the puke smell to her.  Anomen sat beside her looking someone off color himself and holding a bucket out for his sweetheart.  Or was he holding it for himself?

"No we're not," Brynn told her.  "If worse comes to worse we get in Jan's little subma-thingy and wait it out under water."

"Submarine," Jan corrected her.  "It's a submarine."

"Whatever," Brynn said.  "Point is that no one's going to drown.  I don't think."

"Ah, such encouraging words, my raven," Haer'Dalis said.  Of all the Blades he seemed to be the best off.  Then again, Haer'Dalis rarely let on that he was anything but on top of things, and most of the time when did he seem miffed it was more for show than anything.

Imoen sloshed through the water and had Brynn sit down on a bunk.  "You look tired," she explained.

"I _feel tired little sister," Brynn said.  She stretched out on the soggy bunk.  "Where are Yoshimo and Master Touga?  And Dynaheir?_

"T…Touga and Yoshimo went up just after you," Khalid replied.  

"And I am over here," Dynaheir spoke up from a dark bunk in the far corner.  "Do look around more before you ask questions, dear."

"Sorry, I couldn't see you," Brynn apologized.  "I guess I missed Master Touga and Yoshimo above deck.  It's hard to see your hand in front of your face in that rain!"

"I saw them both," Minsc said.  He sat down on the bunk below Dynaheir's, and Boo crawled out of his sleeve, looking very much like a drowned rat indeed.  "They had fished a sailor out of the waves and were trying very much to make him not fall in again."

Jaheira mused aloud, "Miracle of miracles, the two of _them working together.  And they did not attempt to murder one another?"_

"Master Touga wouldn't let a man drown just because Yoshimo was trying to help him first," Brynn said, a little irritated.  "Neither would Yoshimo."

"I am glad that you are optimistic, Brynn," Jaheira said.  "Hopefully we won't 'accidentally' loose either of them in the storm."

"You're not funny Jaheira, I hope you know that," Brynn growled.  She rolled over on the soggy bunk and added.  "I'm going to sleep, if either of them comes down smack me until I wake up."

***

            Meanwhile, above deck…

            "Get out of my way you stupid son of a peasant whore!"  Touga snapped at Yoshimo.  The two of them faced one another along a thin and slippery stretch of decking near the bow of the ship.

            "I was born Samurai just like you, and of a higher rank unless my memory fails me!"  Yoshimo retorted over the raging storm.  "You get out of my way!"

            "Your rank when you had honor, _if you ever had any honor, does not matter anymore.  You are nothing but a ronin and a thief.  Stand aside and let me pass!"_

            "Unless I am mistaken, oh _wise and __honorable one, __you are a ronin as well, so do not preach honor to __me!  I find it laughable that you still cling so tightly to every precept of a culture that __exiled you.  __That is not __honor, it is __pathetic!"_

            If he hadn't been forced to keep both hands on a safety line to keep his feet on the decking, Touga would have drawn his katana.  "Watch whom you mock, boy," he growled ominously.  "You will not find yourself lucky enough to escape me a second time, even with Brynn hovering near by to protect you.  _If she would protect you.  I am her Master after all.  She is bound by duty to me more than to you!"_

            Yoshimo laughed.  "You, old man, are no more Brynn's Master than I.  She surpassed you in skill long ago."

            "You are mistaken, _boy.  I defeated her when last we sparred, or did you miss that?"  Touga replied confidently._

            "No, but apparently _you missed the fact that she __let you win!"_

            Touga's dark eyes widened.  "_What?" he demanded._

            Yoshimo smiled coldly.  "Don't be so surprised.  Brynn could have been a _goddess, and you think you, a wrinkled old man past his prime, could have beaten her?  Old age must be getting to your mind as well as your body.  She let you win to spare your pride."  He pushed past the stunned Kensai and went below deck to wait out the storm._

            Touga clung to the safety line and sank to the deck.   Brynn wouldn't have… she would never _let him win, not even to save his honor.  She was better than that.  She was honest.  The thief was just lying to him, right?  Yes, that had to be it.  It __had to be._

            "Hey there, up you go!" said someone from behind him.

            Touga got unsteadily to his feet and turned to look at the man who had spoken to him.  It was the captain something or other Havarian.  "Ah, Havarian-san," Touga said.

            "Better to rest below decks, my friend.  Up here a wave could wash you right out to sea," Havarian said.  Under his breath he added, "And if I lost you overboard Brynn would send me to go retrieve you myself.  I dare say I wouldn't fancy that."

            "Ah, yes, I believe I will go below.  Thank you, Havarian-san."  

And so Touga, his mind struggling to figure out whether or not Yoshimo had told him the truth, found his way below deck.  Without a word he retreated to one of the bunks, lay down on his back and closed his eyes.  To all the others gathered below it looked as if he was asleep, but the truth was that Touga Kurai did not sleep a wink that whole night.

***

            The Blades worked in shifts all night and all the next day helping Saemon and his crew keep the ship afloat.  Despite everyone's best effort two sailors were swept away in the storm.  They were seen bobbing up and down in the waves for a few moments, desperately trying to get back to the ship, but then they were never seen again.  

            But that was life of a seaman.  One could never be sure that the next wave wasn't the one that would spell doom.

            On the third day the storm's fury waned, and by the fourth day the ship was sailing under fair skies, the wind pleasant and filling the sails nicely.  Thankfully none of the three masts had snapped during the storm, and all the sails had been saved.  However, that did not mean that there weren't any repairs that needed to be made.  If nothing else the hold and cabins had to be pumped, scrubbed, and dried out before they rotted along with all the supplies and foodstuffs they contained.  Clothes, bedding and other items that had been subjected to the below-deck deluge were brought up on deck to dry out in the sun, and Aerie and Anomen used magic to create fresh water for rinsing the salt out of things.

            Brynn nearly had a heart attack when she discovered that one of her precious katanas, her 'babies' as she lovingly referred to them on occasion, had _rust on the blade, and she immediately set to work cleaning it with a vengeance, cursing the salt air all the while._

            "I hate sailing!" she growled for the umpteenth time as she put a final polish and a coat of protective oil on the blade to keep it from rusting again.  "It's bad for steel."

            Opposite her on the deck, Khalid chuckled.  "W..w..which is w..why _I use a magical blade."_

            "Oh sure, laugh it up," Brynn replied indignantly.  "Some skill it takes to rely on magic in a fight.  That's cheating.  A true swordsman relies only on his own abilities."

            "You may have to rely on those abilities right quick, m'lady," called Saemon as he trotted up.  "There's a ship approaching us, and she's flying pirate colors."

            Brynn stood up from the deck, grinning.  "Well that's lucky," she said, "I got the boys oiled and sharp just in time for the party.  Lucky for us that is," she added, "unlucky for the pirates that picked _this ship to attack."_

***

To Be Continued

________________________________________________________________________

I know what you're thinking, "The Blades can handle a dumb bunch of pirate!"

Or can they?


	8. Never Mock a Lich

Chapter 8:

Never Mock a Lich

            As the pirate ship came closer a few things became clearer about the situation.  First, the pirates were well armed, better armed in fact that Havarian's crew, and second, they were captained by a lich.  

            "Oh wonderful," Brynn muttered.  "A _lich! As if I hadn't seen enough of __those for one lifetime already._

            Beside her Dynaheir wondered aloud, "What is a lich doing on a pirate ship?"

            "I don't care, I just kill 'em and make it stick," Brynn replied.  She turned to the rest of the Blades. "All right, they've got a lich, but we've got all of you guys and me, so we'll win, of course, it just won't be easy.  So this is how we're going to make it easier.  Khalid, Minsc and Yoshimo get your bows and stick as many pirates as you can full of arrows.  Think 'pirate porcupines.'  Nalia, Imoen, Dynaheir and Jan, the lich will undoubtedly be casting spells, see if you can't figure out what they are and counter them so that no one here gets _Disintegrated.  Haer'Dalis, sing us a song of battle if you will, a little magical inspiration never hurt.  On that note, Anomen, Aerie, two words: defensive spells.  Then do that holy magic thing and see if you can't put the fear of goodness into that lich. Jaheira, you're on defensive spell duty with Anomen and Aerie, unless you can make some big wave come up and smack that ship apart."_

            "What will you and Touga be doing?" Jaheira asked.

            Brynn frowned sourly.  "Well, unless the pirates board, I'd say _watch, because we can't exactly slice and dice from way over here."_

            And so the Blades got to work.  As soon as the pirate ship was in range the archers began to 'think porcupine,' and the results were good.  Until, that is, the lich in charge of it all saw that many small holes were being put in his fleshy crew, and cast some sort of spell on a few of the more important ones.   Yoshimo was the first to find out about that spell when he took aim at one pirate and found his own arrow shooting back at him.  It sliced across his left bicep before sticking firmly into the deck behind him.

            Minsc's cry of, "Agh! The arrows come back at us Boo!" made it apparent that Yoshimo was not the only one unlucky enough to choose a victim that the lich had cast _physical mirror on.  _

            Despite the best of efforts of Saemon and his crew the pirate ship caught up to them.  Moving along side, the pirates dropped a boarding plank, and Brynn, who had thus far only been keeping an eye on things and directing the Blades, pulled out her katanas with a grin.  "Melee weapons everyone!"

            She ran over to where the boarding plank was and stepped in front of the stream of pirates that was coming off the ship.  "Okay boys," she said, addressing the hairy, filthy, well armed enemy, "my turn!"  Because the boarding plank was just that, a plank, it was only wide enough for two men to cross walking abreast, meaning that Brynn could take on the pirates two at a time.  

It wouldn't exactly be fair to say that the pirates never stood a chance; after all, they were better than the average run of the mill pirates.  In fact they were very good fighters and had probably been harassing the seas without trouble under the leadership of the lich captain for quite some time.  Unfortunately for them, Brynn was a better warrior, and taking on two of the pirates at once was barely enough of a challenge to make her break a sweat.

Realizing that they had bitten off more than they could chew the pirates began to retreat, and Brynn followed them; she couldn't very well leave them to attack more innocent vessels.  Behind Brynn the Blades and Saemon's crew swarmed over the pirate ship, turning the pirates' own tactics against them.

Once on board the pirate ship Brynn focused her attention on the lich, who was working his magic from raised aft deck.  She cut down the guard that stood by the stairway up to the deck, and slashed one of her blades deep into the lich's black robes.  A pair of red, glowing eyes set in deep, black sockets regarded her with extreme distaste.

"Foolish mortal," the lich hissed, its voice like dry leaves being rubbed together.  From within its robes the lich drew a small wand, pointed it at Brynn and muttered an arcane phrase all within a matter of moments.

Brynn whirled to one side to avoid the bolt of lightening that shot out of the wand at her, but not fast enough to avoid getting jolted as the lightening passed.  She forced her rebellious muscles to obey her and swept the wand out of the lich's bony hand.  "_I'm foolish?" she asked, crossing both blades in front of her in a defensive stance.  "You're the one who turned himself into a walking corpse, mummy breath!"_

The lich retreated, and said, "I am immortal, and you are only weak flesh and wet blood."  The air around him began to shimmer as a magical shield sprang into being around him.  "My magic protects me from your blades.  You merely prove your stupidity by provoking my wrath."

Brynn didn't respond except to test out that pretty shimmering shield.  It did indeed repel her attack, which left her with a funny feeling of 'uh-oh' that she didn't like.  Where was a mage with a good dose of _Dispel Magic when you needed one?  _

She backed up, thinking of making a strategic retreat.  Then she noticed a small, metal cylinder on a chain hanging out the lich's robes.  That, she decided, must be its phylactery.  Most liches kept those precious little boxes with their souls somewhere quite safe.  This lich must have been an especially cocky bastard.  Well great, now all she had to do was kill the damn thing and break its phylactery and that would be that.  It was the killing the lich part that had her stumped for the moment.  A quick look around told her that everyone else was busy taking care of pirates, she alone had been brave enough –read: stupid enough- to attack the lich on her own.  There were some things even she couldn't handle alone, and this was apparently one of them.  She sort of wished she'd have figured it out sooner instead of charging in unprepared.

"All right, I'll cut you a deal," she said.  "You and me go our separate ways peacefully."

The lich laughed.  "Why should _I let you live?  You are obviously unable to fight back, I have already won!"_

Brynn smiled.  "Yeah, so I am.  But I've got a whole lot of very, very powerful friends right over there that'll kill you all the way dead if you kill me.  Way I see it that isn't very profitable for you, now is it?"

The lich stopped laughing and instead began to chant a spell.  Brynn took that moment to jump down off the upper deck.  She landed in a crouch, and then fell to her knees as she felt the water in her body being squeezed out.  

"Oooh," she groaned, "I hate that spell…"

More chanting and a huge, disembodied hand picked her up of the deck and squeezed.  She felt the air being pressed out of her, and she desperately tried to draw a breath.  She heard one of her ribs snap and then another, and felt a wave of blinding pain sweep through her chest.  Then the hand vanished and she dropped back to the deck and drew a welcome breath of air despite the pain it caused.  She heard yet more chanting as she got to her feet, and looked up to see a black blade of pure nothingness appear before the lich.

"Oh shit," she wheezed.  She had never seen _that spell before, and never heard about it, but in general swords of black nothing were bad news.  _

"And now, silly mortal, you die," said the lich.  The blade descended toward Brynn at blinding speed, but Brynn was able to doge out of the way just in time to avoid being sliced in two.  She danced out of the way of the sword's blows, not wanting to risk her katanas in blocking it for fear that the black blade would shear right through them.  

"A little help here would be nice!" she shouted, wincing as a wave of pain rushed through her.  How many times had she broken her ribs now? Thank the gods for healing magic!

And just then, as if on command, an arrow shot out and struck the lich's magical shield.  Energy crackled around the lich, and the shield dropped.  Brynn dodged as the black blade sliced at her again, and put the pain in her chest out of her mind as she vaulted back up onto the deck again.

"Not so nasty now, are you lichie?" she said.

The lich said nothing, but Brynn heard an ominous _huuuuummm behind her.  She waited for a fraction of a second, until she was sure that she could wait no longer, and then ducked and rolled to the left.  She looked up in time to see the black blade slice through the lich from skull to hip.  The black blade vanished, and the lich fell to the deck in two pieces.  Brynn got up and snatched the phylactery from the lich's body, and turned to see how things were going on the other side of the battle._

She was pleased to find that all the pirates were either dead or captured, and in general casualties on her side were limited to a few cuts and bruises.

"To who ever shot that rather well timed arrow of dispelling, I give a great huzzah of thanks.  Huzzah!" Brynn called out.  

Imoen waved at her, grinning.  "That was me," she said.

Brynn gave her a thumbs up and continued.  "Now for some phylactery smashing magic and our job here is done."

            Unfortunately it wasn't that simple.  Because some of the pirates had survived the attack something had to be done with them, and Jaheira's suggestion of feeding them to the fish was not one Brynn wanted to go along with.  The problem was that there was no brig to put the prisoners in, and they couldn't very well be left to their own devices on board the ship, nor could they be returned to their own ship with hopes that they would reform their evil ways.  

            Then there was the issue of what to do with the goods found on board the pirate ship.  If the selection of gold, jewelry, fine china, worked silver, weapons and other such items was any indication this group of pirates had been very successful.  The captured pirates spoke quite freely –once Minsc had been encouraged to intimidate them- about the fact that what was on board their ship was a mere fraction of the goods they had back at their base, and that made Saemon, as well as several of the Blades, come close to drooling in anticipation.

            Jan put it the most succinctly when he said, "Shinies! Ooooh!"

            Brynn delayed making any decision for as long as possible, and in the interim had all the treasure moved from the pirate ship to Saemon's ship, where it was counted and stored by Anomen and Touga, the two least likely to covertly make off with any of it.  All other useful items, such as food, ropes, extra sails and several barrels of good ale were also carted off the pirate ship, along with the surviving pirate's personal effects and some valuable items snagged off the dead pirates corpses and off the lich as well, before a number of large holes were put in the pirate ship, and it sank to the ocean floor.

            Then came the task of deciding what to do with the pirates, their treasure, and the promise of much more treasure back at their base.

            "So," Saemon said, starting off the meeting between the Blades and his senior crew in the Captain's dining cabin, "all in favor of making a _little detour to put these pirates out of business, and gain a good deal of booty for ourselves in the process, raise your hands._

            All of Saemon's crew, plus Jan, Haer'Dalis and Yoshimo put their hands high in the air.

            "All opposed?"

            The rest of the Blades raised their hands.

            The vote was even.

            "Well…" Saemon said, "We seem to be at odds here.  As Captain of the ship my vote breaks the tie, and I say we go get the treasure."

            Brynn glared at him.  "As the one _paying the Captain of the ship, my vote __is your vote, meaning we continue with our mission and __then go back and do a little raiding.  Waiting a few months won't hurt.  If anything there will be more treasure."_

            Saemon grumbled but found no room to argue.

"Um…" Aerie ventured uncertainly, "shouldn't we find out who these pirates have stolen from and return their things to them?"

            "She is correct," Dynaheir agreed.

            "My lady, I must too agree," Anomen put in.

            "Yes!  It would only be the right thing to do!" Minsc said grinning.  "Oh the tales they will tell of us!"

            "Minsc, they already tell too many tales of us," Brynn said, "and besides which, the odds that we're going to find out who all that stuff belongs to are slim to none.  In all likelihood the rightful owners are dead and on the bottom of the sea."

            "Which mean that all that is now ours by salvage rights," Saemon added.

            "Here, here!" Haer'Dalis exclaimed.  He lifted a fine silver goblet that he had captured for himself, full of fine wine, which he had raided from the cabin of the second in command of the pirate ship, and toasted to their success.  "Really, my raven, this is a rather profitable venture, and quite exciting."

            Brynn resisted the urge to let out a sigh of dismay.  "We're not _trying to be __profitable Haer'Dalis, not this time.  We're on a mission of justice."  Yoshimo snorted.  Brynn elbowed him in the ribs and continued.  "I'm all for copious amounts of gold, but it's going to have to wait until __after we finish the mission we're already on."_

            "If you're not going after the pirate treasure would you be ah… displeased if _I went after it while you were on your 'mission of justice?'" Saemon inquired._

            "Yes.  And mind you, Saemon, I have the map," Brynn told him bluntly.  "When we're done in Wa we'll look you up before we go after the treasure, I promise."  She sat up straighter in her chair and clasped her hands.  "Now, as for the prisoners, I'm open to suggestions so long as they don't involve mutilation and death."

            "They are _pirates Brynn, they have most likely mutilated and killed more than enough people in their lives to warrant death," Anomen pointed out._

            "And we can't keep them on board," Saemon added.

            Brynn frowned.  "How far are we from land?"

            Saemon shrugged.  "The storm put us a bit off course," he said.

            "Well… how about we keep them until we find an island or something, and them put them on a long boat with some provisions, and send them off on their own?"  Brynn suggested.  "We wouldn't be killing them, they'd have a fair enough chance at survival, but they most likely wouldn't be able to get back to pirating again."

            "Or they die a slow, miserable death on a deserted island," Imoen said.

            "I'm trying to be positive here, sis," Brynn replied.  "Any other issues with the idea?"

            "What do we d…do with the pirates until we find land?" Khalid inquired.

            "Tie them up in the hold I suppose," Brynn answered.  "Unless anyone has a better idea."

            A few better ideas were put forth, but they all involved killing the prisoners, and so they were quashed.  The meeting broke up, the prisoners were told of their fate, and the ship sailed on.  


	9. The Unhappy Truth

Chapter 9:

The Unhappy Truth

            Though the storm had thrown them considerably off course Saemon was quick to find their path again, and so the journey continued on with only a few days added to the travel time.  

            It was during those days while they were trying to get back on course that Touga came across Brynn as she leaned over the rail, watching the blue green sea go by.

            "Konnichiwa," he greeted her.

            "Konnichiwa, Master Touga," Brynn replied, turning away from the rail and bowing slightly.  "How are you getting on?"

            "Oh, fine," Touga said.  "And you?"

            Brynn smiled lopsidedly.  "Well, aside from that unfortunate rust incident a few days ago, I'm fine.  I've had to deal with Nalia and Anomen still being a little seasick though.  It's not pleasant to say the least."

            Touga laughed politely.  "As cheerful as always, little one."

            Brynn gave him an expression of mock irritation, "Master Touga, I'm not a little girl anymore!"  She said.  "I've grown up, even if I haven't grown _up." She indicated her short stature._

            Brynn noticed her Master's expression change ever so slightly.  He still smiled, but the laughter had gone out of his eyes.  "You have, you certainly have grown up."  He paused and looked out at the sea, and Brynn followed his gaze to the ship's wake, rolling and white against the dark sea.  "Am I still your Master then?" Touga asked after a while.  "Now that you have grown up?"

            Brynn smiled affectionately at him.  "You'll always be my sensei," she said.  "Even more of a father to me than Gorion was.  He taught me the knowledge of books, and history, you taught me the knowledge of my spirit and body."  She cocked her head to one side and looked at him, trying to catch his eyes.  "Why do you ask?"

            "Oh… no reason, no reason child," Touga replied.  "I am just an old man wondering if he still has worth in this world."

            "You're not _that old, Master," Brynn assured him.  She meant it too.  Though gray streaks had found their way into his dark hair he was still younger than fifty by a few years.  Brynn would always remember him as the sturdy, athletic man who taught her how to use the sword and gave a purpose to her youthful enthusiasm.  "You're not old by a long shot.  I mean, Aerie, she's over a hundred, that's old."_

            "She is an elf, is she not?"

            Brynn nodded.  "An Avariel elf."

            "Elves live longer than the race of man," Touga commented.  "She is young, and so are you.  Barely an adult even now and still a child when I left five years ago, yes?"

            Brynn leaned on the rail beside him.  "Yeah, just a kid who hadn't a clue about the world.  I hadn't a clue about anything, really.  Moon and stars!  I thought battle was this glorious, heroic, poetic thing, and it took until I killed my first man for that ideal to be shattered."  She laughed briefly.  "Actually, to be honest, I think that ideal is still hanging around.  After all I've been through I still can't seem to shake it all the way."

            "Battle _is glorious," Touga said.  "Beautifully terrible… terribly beautiful.  More glorious than life, I think."_

            Brynn nodded.  "We're getting melancholy, Master," she said.  "Really melancholy."  She stood up straight and stretched her arms out the ocean.  "C'mon, we're going to be going into that glorious battle we were just talking about, and after that we're going to get us some pirate treasure, and go back to Amn, and maybe then I'll get you to indulge in all those things you said were gross pleasures back when I was a kid.  Like sweets and stupid old stories, and adventuring.  You'd like adventuring I think."

            "Ah, yes, we are going into battle, but child, despite what you say I _am growing old, and this time I may not leave the field of combat alive."_

            "Don't be silly," Brynn told him.  "You and I, and everyone else will be coming out of this with all limbs attached and a whole new batch of stories to tell."

            "Are you so certain?"  Touga asked.

            "Yeah, I mean, I'm not letting you die.  Not even if you wanted to," Brynn said with a grin.

            Touga kept his eyes on the waves as he asked, "How could you save me from something I could not protect myself from?  After all, I am still your superior in battle."

            Brynn swallowed quickly and came up with an answer out of nature's pocket.  "Well, weaker people save stronger people all the time… like Nalia; she's saved my butt before."

            "I see."   Touga straightened and bowed briefly to Brynn.  Then he left, walking tall and proud.

            Brynn watched him as he went below deck, and then breathed a sigh of relief when he was out of sight.  "I thought he had me there," she said under her breath.  Had Touga actually come close to figuring out her ploy, or had he just been musing idly? She shuddered to think he might know that she had purposely lost to him all those months ago.  If that were the case not only would he feel dishonored himself, but he would be ashamed of her as well.

            She heard someone approach and turned to see Haer'Dalis walking toward, smiling his usual roguish smile.  "Good afternoon, my raven," he said.  He pretended to take off his hat (pretended because he didn't have a hat) and bowed extravagantly.  Then he pretended to put his hat back on and leaned against the rail on one elbow, his legs crossed at the ankle.

            "Hey," Brynn said, smiling a little.

            Haer'Dalis raised on blue-gray eyebrow.  "What is the matter, my raven?  Someone step on your grave?"

            "Hmm?"

            "You look as white as newly fallen snow," Haer'Dalis told her.

            "Oh, I just had an uncomfortable talk with Master Touga is all," Brynn said.  "I'm okay."

            "Ah," Haer'Dalis said, "did he bring up that unfortunate incident with Yoshimo?"

            Brynn suddenly felt paranoid.  "Which one?  Was there another one?"

            "No, no, I merely meant the one that sparked their enmity," Haer'Dalis clarified quickly.  "You are certainly… touchy on the subject."

            Brynn gave him a wry look.  "Yeah, well when the two most important men in my life want to _kill on another I get touchy.  It's my natural instinct.  Sort of like yours is to pry."_

            Haer'Dalis chuckled.  "Ah true!  You wound me with your accuracy, my raven, but do not fear- it is already forgiven.  However, I did notice that you turned aside my query."

            Brynn frowned at him.  "Nosy," she accused.

            "It is, as you pointed out only a moment ago, part of my nature," Haer'Dalis said.  He smiled broadly and continued, "Now, please dearest raven, satiate my curiosity for a moment and tell me what has you so unnerved."

            Brynn narrowed her eyes and considered her options.  She could lie, but Haer'Dalis would figure it out, or she could continue to evade him, which would only leave him disgruntled and disinclined to help the next time she needed a question answered, or she could just tell him what the problem was.  When he needed to be, Haer'Dalis could be discreet.

            She opted for a combination between option number one and option number three.  "Oh, Master Touga was worried that he was getting old and that his skill was diminishing I had to reassure him.  It upset me that he was so pessimistic."

            "Well he _is rather aged," Haer'Dalis remarked.  "And he obviously would have lost that little sparring session with you had you not let him win."_

            Brynn clapped a hand over Haer'Dalis' mouth and hissed, "Shhhh! Not so loud!  How did you know that anyway?"

            Calmly Haer'Dalis peeled Brynn's hand off of his face.  "Everyone knows, save for your poor deluded master.  It was quite obvious for those of us who are used to seeing you fight.  Your master would have noticed it as well had he not been exerting so much effort to defeat you."

            Brynn felt lost.  "Oh," she said.  "Well... thanks for keeping quiet... I guess..."

            "If it makes you feel any better, neither Aerie nor Dynaheir noticed until Minsc mentioned it to them."

            "No, not really, thanks anyway though," Brynn said.  She let out a long sigh.  "I just hope Master Touga doesn't find out.  If he did he would be _very upset."_

            Haer'Dalis shrugged.  "I doubt that you can keep the truth from him forever," he said.  "One day he _will undoubtedly find out."_

            "Thanks, oh doomsayer," Brynn growled, feeling decidedly unfriendly.  "Why don't you go mock Anomen's fighting style, or flirt with Aerie or Imoen or something, huh?"

            "Are you angry that we saw through your ruse?"

            "Yes," Brynn admitted grumpily.  "And angry at myself for being so obvious.  Just go, okay?  I got to think about this some more, and you standing there isn't helping."

            Haer'Dalis tipped his nonexistent hat again and sauntered off.

            Brynn, on the other hand, found herself an empty piece of deck and sat down to fume. 

            It wasn't fair, she decided.  It wasn't fair that she was always the last to know about this sort of thing... or the second to last as the case may be, considering Touga at least didn't know yet.  At least Brynn thought he didn't know.  She _hoped he didn't know._

            Brynn heard someone coming her way, and said, "Trying to fume in private, please go around."

            Behind her Jaheira snorted somewhat contemptuously.  "What is the matter, Brynn, did the old man and Yoshimo get into another quarrel?"

            Brynn shot the druid an angry look over her shoulder.  "For the second time today, no."

            "Then why are you in such a foul mood?  You would think the world was about to end."  Jaheira sat down cross-legged on the deck opposite Brynn.  "You are as red as a beet, child," she commented.

            "Oh, wonderful," Brynn said sarcastically.  "First I'm ghost white, then I'm beet red.  I'm a bloody rainbow today, aren't I?"

            "Well you are certainly not lady sunshine," Jaheira remarked dryly.  "Did someone drop a porcupine into your trousers, or has your _night life been less than satisfactory?"_

            If Brynn had not been red before she was now.  "_No!" she hissed.  "And that's none of your business anyway!  How'd you like me to ask you about you and Khalid, huh?"_

            Jaheira shrugged.  "So then why _are you so irritable?"_

            Brynn let out an aggravated sigh.  "If you _must know, I had an upsetting conversation with Master Touga, and then an equally upsetting conversation with Haer'Dalis, neither of which I particularly care to talk about, because the next thing I know I'm going to be having an upsetting conversation with you and my whole __day will be thrown off!"_

            "Imagine that, being upset by that old man and Haer'Dalis," Jaheira said.

            Brynn frowned at her.  "I don't appreciate your sarcasm, Jaheira," she said.  "And what's so upsetting about Master Touga to you anyway, he's a nice man."

            "Oh, a very nice man indeed... if you are his pet student and a warrior he deems to be his equal," Jaheira told Brynn.  "If you are anyone else… pfft! Let the wind take you!"

            "He's not like that at all!" Brynn protested, leaping to her master's defense.  "He's a very polite, honorable man!"

            "He's as polite as anyone I've ever met," Jaheira agreed, "but manners do not always convey everything.  Yoshimo isn't the only one who wants to give him a sound beating.  Thus far you dear master has managed to alienate every one of the Blades.  I myself have found him to be utterly unreasonable.  He is a hard man to like, a hard man to even _tolerate, and were it not for the fact that __you respect him so, I'm sure one of us would have killed him by now."_

            Brynn looked at Jaheira, her mouth gaping, "He's not _that bad, is he?"_

            "He is most certainly, 'that bad,'" Jaheira confirmed.

            "Well, he's from a different culture," Brynn pointed out, feeling uncomfortable.  "He doesn't think the way we do.  You may just be misreading him too, he's very stiff and formal, and despite the fact that he's live here almost as long as he's lived in Wa, he's still not gotten used to how things work."

            "Stop making excuses for him Brynn," Jaheira scolded her.  "You have already done enough for him by letting him win that sparring match; you need not feel obligated to explain his rude behavior."

            "Shhhhhhhh!" Brynn told her in a taut whisper.  "Gods and demons! Don't shout that!  Master Touga doesn't know, and I'd like to keep it that way!"

            Jaheira shook her head in disappointment.  "He will find out one way or another, Brynn.  You must have realized that."

            "No, he won't," Brynn snapped.  "I mean it.  This is important to me, Jaheira.  So, keep this all quiet."

            With a sigh Jaheira said, "The longer this is kept a secret the more difficult it will be when the truth comes out, Brynn."

            "But maybe it won't come out," Brynn said hopefully.  "If we all keep our mouths shut…"

            "I don't think that will make a difference," Jaheira told her bluntly.  Her eyes caught Brynn's and she paused for a moment. "However," she said, "have it your way, and be it on your head not mine when things come crashing down around your ears."

            "You're ever so magnanimous," Brynn muttered.

            Jaheira smirked.  "Ever the ray of sunshine, dear, keep it up."  She stood and walked away, leaving Brynn by herself.  

            Restless, Brynn stood up and made her way to the bow of the ship.  She stood there, leaning on the rail as she had been before Touga interrupted her, just watching the waves break across the hull and trying to soothe her mind.  

            _What if Jaheira's right, she thought.  __What if he does find out?  What then?  _

            It wasn't something she really wanted to think about, but the idea haunted her, wouldn't leave her.  

            If she had taken up the sword because it seemed interesting she had kept it up because she wanted to impress her Master, had wanted his respect.  She dove into the world of the sword with her whole heart, and once inside embraced it with her whole being to earn his respect, and she did it too, but only after a lot of effort.  It was something for a ten-year-old girl to earn a proud smile from the stoic Kensai, and everyone at Candlekeep knew it.  Imoen had her mischief, her books, her pranks, but Brynn had the sword and her Master's respect.  It was enough for her.

            But if he knew that she had let him win all that would change.  Though Brynn was no longer that little girl, though she no longer needed Touga's respect to give her justification, she still wanted it.  If he knew what she had done, she was sure that respect would vanish.  

            She kept her eyes on the sea, as if asking the waves for an answer to her dilemma, but no answer came to her, and at last she ceased her inquiry.  

She forced herself to put her questions out of her mind.  This was no time to be caught unaware; it was a time for preparation.  She was nearing her destination.  It wouldn't be long now before her quest was finished and she could at last put this whole mess behind her.

At least, she hoped she could


	10. The Shrouded Island

Chapter 10:

The Shrouded Island

The island seemed to appear out of the mist, green and gray and rugged against the calm blue-gray ocean.  Only the water lapping against the side of the ship and the lonely cry of a gull could be heard, as if the island wasn't really there at all, only an illusion of the fog.

The Blades gathered on deck, shivering in the cool morning.  All were armed and armored, ready to make landfall and finish what they had come to do.  Brynn sat on the ship's rail facing her companions, a serious look in her eyes.

"So, here's the deal," she said, "we're not here to kill anyone, just to get Master Touga's betrothed out, so try to knock people out, not cut them into little pieces or fry them with fireballs.  They're all just trying to do their jobs."  She jumped down from the rail and continued, "I want Nalia, Aerie, and Dynaheir to wait with Jan in the subma… submer…

"Submarine," Jan supplied.

"Yeah, that thing," Brynn said.  "The less people we have running around the better, but we may need you for back up, and we're going to want to get going as quick as we can on the way out.  The rest of you will be coming onto land with me.  I want Minsc to be up front with Yoshimo and Touga.  Yoshimo, traps are your thing, make sure neither of them trip any.  Master, you of course will be looking for your betrothed, you're the only one of us who's ever seen her before.  Behind them will be Khalid, Jaheira, Anomen and myself.  Please try not to let your armor clank too loudly.  Last, but not least, will be Imoen and Haer'Dalis.  You guys are the rearguard; keep an eye out for anything suspicious."  She stopped and thought for a moment.  "That covers it I guess.  Except to say that, Saemon," she turned to the captain with a crooked grin, "I have the map to that pirate cove on me, and you won't get paid if I don't get out of here, so sit tight."

"You wound me, Brynn," Saemon said dramatically.

"I also _know you," Brynn replied flatly.  "No funny business mister."  She turned back to the Blades.  "So, that's it.  Jan, pull out that… submarine of yours, and let's get to it."_

Jan did as Brynn asked and produced the model sub.  Then he said the phrase to invoke its magic (turnips are not orange, carrots are) and threw the sub in the water before it crushed him.  Minsc jumped down and opened up the hatch, and all the Blades piled in and the submarine sank below the waves.

***

            The trip into the island was short and unpleasant.  Unpleasant because the sub was very small, and there were many people crammed into it, and also because Jan was driving and he had no qualms about showing off the sub's maneuvering capabilities.  

            "Enough!" Touga said after a steep dive sent him hurtling toward the bow of the sub for the second time.  "I have had enough!  This is no game, gnome, either guide this hideous creation of yours smoothly or face my blade!"  He put his hand on the hilt of his katana just to show how serious he was.

            Jan gave a sigh of vexation, but promptly leveled the sub out.  "You're no fun," he accused under his breath.  "Stuffy old man!"

            The harrowing ride ended in a small cove.  It was just large enough to hide the sub, and tall cliffs boxed it in on three sides.  At the back was a small sandy beach that led out into the cool water.  The bottom dropped sharply not more than five feet from the shore.  Jan stopped snug against the edge of the drop off and just deep enough that the hatch at the top only showed an inch above the water.  

            The Blades opened the hatch and all that were going ashore leapt off the sub.  For the most part they landing not more than a foot from the shore, except Minsc, whose tremendous jump put him well onto the dry sand.  He waited their while the rest slogged ashore and shook water out of their boots.  

            As soon as that was done Imoen went up to the back of the beach and cast a spell.  Then she took a coil of rope that Brynn had brought along, slung it over her shoulder and climbed like a spider up the rock face.  She disappeared for a moment over the top of the cliff, and then the end of the rope came down, uncoiling as it went.  Imoen appeared again at the top of the cliff and signaled the okay, and then the others climbed up the rope and joined her.  Once everyone was up, Imoen loosed the rope from the tree she had tied it too and hid it carefully in the brush nearby.

            Brynn waved the group close and said to them, "So far it's as planned.  Minsc, Yoshimo, Master Touga, you guys go ahead like I said earlier and the rest of us will follow a bit behind.  Give the signal if there's something fishy up ahead."

            "We will have it well in hand," Touga said, "so long as neither of my two companions makes any mistakes."

            Yoshimo bristled at that comment, but Brynn laid a hand gently on his arm to calm him.  "I don't think that will be a problem, Master, she said."

            So the three of them moved quietly into the dense, misty, pine forest and after a moment the others followed, making sure to keep the lead three in sight, but staying far enough back so as not to catch any attention.  The conversation, held in quiet whispers, of Minsc, Touga and Yoshimo, failed to reach the others, and was lost in the fog.

            "I hope your egotism does not mean failure for us, old man," Yoshimo hissed quietly as he moved across the pine needle-covered ground as silently as an owl flies.

            "Silence that filthy, tongue of yours, thief," Touga shot back.  His steps made more noise than the two men that preceded him, but the quiet crackling and crunching of pine needles was almost imperceptible even so.  "I do not need you hated voice clouding up my thoughts."

            Yoshimo gave a contemptuous snort.

            "One day I will return your insults with cold steel," Touga promised.

            "And I will meet them with the same," Yoshimo returned.

            Ahead of them Minsc halted.

            "Is something wrong?" Touga asked.

            Minsc turned about.  "No," he said in a whisper.  "But you should know that if you keep fighting I will gag you both and hang you in a tree where you won't make trouble."

            The bickering ceased with remarkable alacrity.  

***

            At last the bamboo parted and between the leaves a simple building could be seen.  It was mostly made of wood-and-rice-paper panels, with a wide veranda at the front and right covered over by a thatch roof.  Three men and a woman sat within the shade of the veranda, chatting quietly as they enjoyed their morning meal.

            "Michigawa-san has been very short with me recently," said one of the men.  "I think I offended him somehow."

            The woman shook her head.  "No, I don't think that's it.  I heard he's been having problems with his… peerless parts."

            The man raised an eyebrow.  "How would you know that, eh?"

            "My handmaid heard it from Michigawa-san's concubine," the woman replied.  "He's liable to be short with anyone, but I'm not worried.  Either this will pass and his pillowing will improve, or he will learn to live with it, as all old men do."

            "The two of you are disgraceful," said one of the other men.  He brought a sliver of baked fish to his lips with his chopsticks and paused to chew and swallow before adding, "You are like two old women."

            "Bah," said the third man, "you're just angry because he's your brother and you have to defend him.  You think he's as much of a pain as we do."

            The second man frowned furiously and attended to his breakfast.

            Yoshimo, Minsc and Touga backed quietly away from the scene and met up with the rest of the group to discuss the situation.

            Brynn waved to them as they approached and motioned for them to come close.  "What's the situation?" she whispered as soon as they were near.

            "It looks as if we have come upon one of the outlying guard houses," Touga said.  "There are three guards only; I am sure we could remove them without any noise."

            Brynn shook her head.  "We go around.  Like I said before, the less blood the better."

            "Then we leave enemies at our backs," Touga pointed out.

            "If we do this right, we won't have to worry about that."

            Touga frowned.  "True."

            "So then, here's how we're going to deal with this," Brynn said, addressing the entire group in a low whisper.  "We'll skirt the edge of the clearing and see if we can't find a way to slip past the watch.  I assume that the three that Minsc, Yoshimo and Touga saw weren't the only guards they have, there must be a patrol or something, so keep up the sneaking."

***

            They continued on as before and moved slowly and quietly around the perimeter of the prison area. The prison, they soon found out, was wedged up against a tall cliff which prevented escape from three sides; the numerous guards prevented anyone from getting out on the fourth.  The cliff and guards also prevented the Blades from getting in.

            "Huh," Imoen said, leaning up against the cliff face as the others paused to consider their options.  "Inconveniently effective isn't it?"

            There were nods of agreement all around.

            "Still," she mused, "there's no such thing as a prison that can't be broken out of, right?"

            Yoshimo looked at her.  "I would not say that.  The last I knew no one had ever escaped from the vile island."

            "But no one who tried before ever had us on their side," Brynn pointed out.  "Between the lot of us we've got more oomph than this place's ever seen.  Try to be optimistic, love."

            "Pardon, but this place is something every man and woman in Wa fears," Yoshimo said.  "Most criminals and those who have otherwise offended the powers that be are put to death, or at least allowed to commit seppuku, but here…" he shook his head, "here they are cursed with life and are kept isolated from even their fellow prisoners.  It drives them mad."

            "A s…s…pine ch…chilling thought," Khalid remarked.

"Well, well, Yoshimo," Haer'Dalis commented, "That is a touch too dreary even for me! We will have to see if we cannot liven things up a bit."

            Suddenly, Minsc held up one of his hands and put a finger to his lips.  "Shh," he whispered.  "Boo hears footsie-steps."

            Everyone fell silent at once and hid as best they could.  A man clad in armor came near, searching the forest and brush.  "Damn prisoners," he muttered to himself, "every once and while _one of them tries to escape, and it's always a pain to catch them again! Eh… what's this?" He stooped down and examined the ground.  "Footprints here… leading off this way… and this way… and this way… there's over a half dozen here."  He straightened up.  "I __know that only one prisoner escaped… now who could these prints belong to?"  He followed the set of prints belonging to Anomen to near where the knight was trying desperately to hide.  "Come on out you!" the guard called._

            Anomen did come out of hiding, but with his mace drawn.  The guard stood in shocked surprise for a second, not expecting to see an Eastern Barbarian emerge from the bushes.  Taking advantage of that second, Anomen clubbed him over the head with his mace, dropping him to the ground.

            The other blades came out of hiding.

            "Well, when he wakes up, he's going to have some stories to tell," Imoen commented dryly.

            "Yeah," Brynn agreed.  "I wish we'd brought some rope or something to tie him up with, but I guess as things are we'll just have to leave him in the bushes and hope no one notices that he's missing until after we're done."

            "Fat chance," Jaheira remarked.  "We will have to hurry now.  Time is no longer on our side."

            Brynn smiled wryly.  "Was it ever?  What do you suggest?"

            "I suggest," Jaheira said, a little surprised that Brynn had asked, "that we split into two groups.  That way we will cover ground more quickly."

            "Good idea," Brynn said.  "I was thinking pretty much the same thing.  I'll go with Master Touga, Minsc and Yoshimo around to the left, and you lead the others in searching this area."

            "How will we know which is Touga's betrothed?" Imoen asked.

            "Ask, I guess.  What's her name, Master?"

            "Hanazawa Yukiko," Touga said.

            "That sound good?" Brynn asked.

"It is a good plan," Jaheira agreed.

            Brynn said, "Thanks.  We'll meet you back at the submarine."  She waved briefly and signaled her group to follow her back the way they had come.


	11. Kensai Trap

Chapter 11:

Kensai Trap

            It was not long after they had made their way over to the far side of the prison that Yoshimo suddenly signaled for everyone to stop.  He put a finger to his lips, calling for silence, and vanished into the forest like a spirit.  Several long, tense moments later he returned looking very pleased with himself.

            "I believe I have found our quarry.  She thinks herself hidden not more than a hundred yard off.  Perhaps this Hanazawa Yukiko is the escaped prisoner that unlucky guard was mumbling about."

            "If that's the case, either we're extremely lucky, or we're up you-know-what-creek sans our paddles," Brynn said.  "Master, why don't you go look yourself and see if it really is the lady we're looking for, and then get her to follow you back to us.  We'll be waiting here."

            Touga nodded and went off in the direction of the woman Yoshimo had seen.  

            Minsc shifted uneasily.  "Boo does not like this island.  It makes his whiskers shiver."

            "Nobody like this island, my large friend," Yoshimo told him.  "Your hamster is an astute little rodent."

            "Boo is very wise," Minsc agreed.

            "What's taking Master Touga so long?" Brynn wondered out loud.  "Maybe he missed her."

            "I would not worry," Yoshimo reassured her.  "The woman was not hidden well. And your… Master… has not been gone very long."

            Brynn frowned, but placed her trust in Yoshimo's judgment.  "I'm just concerned is all."

            It seemed, however, that Brynn's concerns were for nothing.  Not much later Touga emerged from, the brush followed by a handsome woman of middle years.  Her hair was dark with only a few streaks of white. Her oval face, though pale, had a healthy color to it, and her dark eyes were bright and intelligent despite the wrinkles around them.

            "It take it this is Miss Hanazawa?" Brynn asked.  She smiled and sketched a polite bow.  "I'm pleased to meet you."

            Yukiko bowed in return.  "And I you.  I thank you a thousand times for your gracious help."

            "Yes, yes," said Yoshimo gruffly, "we can take care of pleasantries later.  For now I suggest we get off of this accursed rock."

            "Ah, yes indeed," Yukiko agreed.  "My pursuers were not far off my trail when I hid.  I am certain they will be here soon."

            "Oh lovely," Brynn muttered.  "Let's go then.  I don't want any bloodshed."

            They hurried through the forest in the direction of the cove where the submarine lay in wait, watching the trees for any sign that the prison guards were approaching.  They heard the voices of their foes long before they saw them though.  Voices surrounded them, some hundred yards off in the woods.  They found themselves cut off from the cove as the guards closed inward, like a noose tightening off their escape.   Brynn raised drew her blades with weary resignation, and Minsc, Touga and Yoshimo followed suit.  They made a ring around Yukiko, who was unarmed and as helpless as a fawn, and waited for their enemy to come into view.  

            Two score men appeared out of the trees, most carrying pole arms, but some carrying both katana and wakazashi at their sides, the symbol of the samurai class.  Their lacquered armor glinted in the dappled light that streamed down through the canopy, and their helmets hid their faces from view.

            One samurai, a captain by the way he held himself and his dress, spat, "Two Barbarians.  How did they get here?"

            "That's not much of a concern right now," Brynn told him firmly.  "What you need to be concerned with is fighting, because I'll be damned before I surrender."

            The samurai captain growled, "Well, at least they are civilized enough to know our language, and at least this one does not fear death like so many of her weak kin.  Come, woman," he addressed Brynn, "put down your weapons and we will at least give you honorable death for your show of courage."

            "I offer you the same," Brynn replied.  "There aren't many of us, but our strength is something to be reckoned with."

            "We shall see," said the captain, not angry, but amused and a little curious.  He raised his blade and charged at Brynn.  In the footsteps of their leader the rest of the group charged, and the battle began.

            Yukiko screamed as a spray of blood caught her in the face.  Touga finished his cut, ripping open the chest of the guard that had attacked him, and faced the man that had taken his fallen comrade's place.  Minsc grimly hacked through man after man, felling two with one might stroke, while Yoshimo agilely avoided the thrusting attacks from the pole-arm wielding guards, and then pierced their flesh with his katana.

Brynn tried to push the samurai captain back and clear a escape route, silently repeating to herself over and over again that these men were only doing their job, and didn't deserve to die for that.  The captain's face was briefly visible beneath his helmet, and Brynn saw determination in his eyes.  He roared and pressed her into Yukiko, and both women stumbled and fell in a heap on the forest floor.  Brynn rolled to one side and blocked just in time to prevent the captain's descending blade from tearing into Yukiko's soft skin.  She rose to a crouch and swept the legs out from under the captain with her feet, taking him down to the ground and knocking the helmet from his head and the sword from his hands.  

Suddenly Yukiko pounced, wrapping her grasping fingers around the hilt of the captain's wakazashi, she drew the small blade and stabbed it into his throat.  The captain gurgled, his eyes wide with shock as he died.  Brynn looked with wide eyes as Yukiko drew the blade out and rose to her feet, falling upon the guards in a flurry of blows.  She did not seem so helpless anymore.

From the distance there came the sound of a loud gong being struck, and the mass of guards shouted in response.  Brynn could only assume that reinforcements were coming, which meant they had to work fast.  Brynn stood all the way, and reluctantly gave up on getting out without too much bloodshed.  If they were to escape at all they had to fight with everything they had.  Once again she danced the dance of death, feeling her twin blades slide easily into the flesh of her opponents.  In her mind everything but the battle faded, the light, the dark, even the pain of her own skin parting under steel.  It did not hinder her, so it wasn't worth her attention.  

Almost as soon as it began the battle ended, and forty bodies lay sprawled across the ground, staining the soil red with blood.  Touga leaned heavily on a tree, blood seeping from a long gash in his leg, and Yukiko nursed her right arm and limped slightly on her right leg.  Minsc, armored against all but the best of blows, looked no worse for wear, and the same stood for Yoshimo, who, presently, was warily watching the forest.  He jerked his head toward the prison as the gong sounded again.  Soon after, Brynn heard the sound of many men approaching through the woods from the direction of the prison.

"Yoshimo, Minsc, get Master Touga and Hanazawa-san out of here; take them back to the submarine.  I'll lead the reinforcements off toward where Jaheira and the others are supposed to be," Brynn said.

"Brynn…" Yoshimo began.

"I mean it, those two can't fight," Brynn cut him off.  "Don't worry," she added in a gentler voice, "I'll be fine."

"Boo says he does not like this one bit," Minsc cautioned.

"Neither do I," Brynn agreed.  "Now get going.  They're almost here!" She gave Minsc a push toward the sub, and ran off into the woods in the direction that the guards were coming from.  "Go!" she shouted one last time.  Then she was too far away.  

She ran for no more than half a minute before she saw the guards hustling through the trees towards her.  "Hey! You there!" she shouted.  As one the guards looked toward her.  "Yeah, you!  Come and get me!"

A hail of arrows shot toward her, and she ducked behind a tree just barely in time to have several miss her by a hairsbreadth.  She took deep breath and sprinted out of her cover, leading the guards away to the right and back toward the prison.  Arrows followed after her, landing in the soft forest soil just at her heels, or striking trees at her side, each narrowly missing her.  Samurai were notoriously good bowmen, she remembered, no wonder each miss came so close to pinning her against the trees. A deer being pursued by a pack of ravenous wolves, she darted between the rain of arrows, and ran with all her strength, her life depending on the swiftness of her feet.

She burst out of the forest and onto the cleared ring that surrounded the prison proper.  The gong sounded again, and as she came upon one of the guard houses she saw three men waiting for her, their pole-arms set to spear her if she charged.  Brynn acknowledged them in some corner of her mind, forming a plan as she ran.  She leapt up as soon as she came close enough, and landed on the long wooden shaft of one guard's weapon.  Another jump and her feet planted on the man's shoulders and she pushed off a last time, landing some fifteen feet away in a low crouch.  Her human stair stumbled and all three men turned just as Brynn rose and took off again.  She looked back, checking to see if the main force of guards was still following her, and sure enough they were.  They did not pause to shoot arrows, but instead chased after her as quickly as they could.

 Making a break for the forest, Brynn put on another burst of speed, though her breath was coming in hard as it was.  She normally didn't do quite so much running away.  She was almost to the edge of the forest when she saw a group of men at the edge of the tree line, just hidden by the underbrush.  She quickly turned again, hoping to circle around them, but then she saw another group coming toward her from the right side of the prison.  The guards in the trees stepped into the clearing as the guards who had been chasing her close in behind her, and those coming from the front moved to hem her in.  

"Well shit," she cursed, pulling her blades out, "this could be _very bad."  There was still a gap between the newest group of guards and those that had come out of the trees, but is was fast closing.  Brynn hurtled toward it, hoping she could make it before the guards moved to intercept her, but she was too late.  The gap closed and she had to stop short to avoid being run through. _

As one the entire ring of guards collapsed in on her.  She fought them with all her fury, but even she could not stand up alone against so many men all at the same time.  For each man guard she took down two more moved in to take his place, swordsmen in front and men wielding pole-arms attack from behind. A sharp blade descended on her shoulder, tearing flesh and nicking bone, and Brynn cried out.  She stumbled and dropped one of her katanas, desperately trying to defend herself against the onslaught.  A vicious jab caught her in the side, deflecting off a rib bone and leaving a huge, gushing laceration beneath her breasts.  Her second blade fell from her hand as she pressed her arm against her ribs to staunch the bleeding.  A third attack sliced deep into the muscle of her right thigh and dropped her to the ground.  Her vision swam, black spots filling her eyes as her blood flowed out of her and into the ground.  

The last she heard before she fell unconscious was a man calling out in a distant-sounding voice, "I want her taken alive!"

***

            Minsc carried the protesting Touga over his shoulder, and Yoshimo helped Yukiko as they ran headlong through the forest, each hoping that Brynn's plan had worked and that she would be there to meet them as they reached the submarine, but instead they found only Jaheira and her group waiting for them by the edge of the cliff.

            "What happened?" Jaheira demanded, easing Touga off Minsc's shoulder and setting him down so she could examine his wound.  Touga tried to swat her away but Jaheira paid him no heed.

            "Where's Brynn?" Imoen demanded on her heels.  "Why isn't she with you?"

            "She went to lead of the guards that were chasing us," Yoshimo said.  His eyes grew troubled.  "She is not back yet?"

            Imoen shook her head.  "We didn't find anything on our side, and then we heard that gong…"

"She was supposed to be leading the guards to you," Yoshimo cut in.  "She was hoping to meet up with you and… damn it!"  He started toward the forest again.

            "Where are you going?" Anomen demanded.

            Yoshimo whirled around.  "I am going to save Brynn.  Hurry up, fool, she may need healing."

            Haer'Dalis stepped out in front of Anomen, following Yoshimo.  "Indeed, our fair raven could even now be in the hands of the prison guards.  Make haste, we needs must save her before the time for saving has passed."

            Yoshimo suppressed a shudder.  He turned cold eyes on Anomen.  "Well, are you coming or not? There is no time for you to think!"

            "Of course I am coming," Anomen replied.  He fell into step with Yoshimo and Haer'Dalis, and the three of them took off running, Yoshimo in the lead, followed by Haer'Dalis, and lastly Anomen, who was struggling to keep up in his heavy plate mail.  They followed the path that Minsc and Yoshimo had trampled through the forest on the way out, and then stopped at the edge of the forest.  

            Just beyond the leaves they could see a huge body of men, more than five score.  Bodies lay strewn across the grass in a circle where they had fallen, but surviving comrades were straightening their friends' limbs and laying the out neatly.  Surveying it all was a willowy man in brilliant red-violet robes stitched in gold that caught the light so that even the three hiding in the underbrush could see their fantastic patterns.  Around this robed figure stood twenty guards, all armed with katanas and wakazashis, their faces stern and judging.  Their armor was of the finest quality, and bore what looked to be an emblem shaped like a large golden flower.  Before the robed man, stretched out serenely on the ground lay Brynn, a pair of prettily-robed women hovering over her, seeming to tend to her wounds.

            "I want her kept alive," said the robed man.  "If she dies all of you will pay the price."

            "Yes, oh Imperial Highness," said the two women in unison, "but these wounds are very bad.  We must get her proper healing soon or all the magic in the world will not save her."

            "See that it is done then," said the robed man.  "You there! Carry this Barbarian woman into the Captain's quarters and see that she is taken care of properly!" He directed a group of stunned samurai.  The warriors hastened to obey him, and under the guidance of the two clerics, lifted Brynn and carried her carefully into the prison complex.  

            Anomen moved to follow, but Yoshimo pulled him back deeper into the forest.  "Not now, young Anomen, not now," he said heavily.  "We could not get more than a dozen steps now."

            "But how…?"

            "That gaudily-clad man out there is the Emperor," Yoshimo said, "I know his dress and mien, though not his face.  He is guarded by the most highly trained samurai in the land; three of them together might rival even Brynn in power.  You work the numbers.  Here we sit, three men, and out there twenty men nearly our equals and a hundred more lesser guards.  We would only be throwing out lives away, and putting Brynn in more danger."

            Anomen scowled.

            Yoshimo gave him a hard look.  "Listen, you fool, I would be the first to charge if there was any hope of winning."

            "Yoshimo is correct," Haer'Dalis agreed.  "Yon samurai have our raven well guarded, and doubtless she would not wish us to die in a futile attempt to rescue her from their clutches."  He frowned; an unusual expression on his merry face.  "We should return anon with reinforcements."

            Anomen relented.  "Aye, it is as you say," he admitted.

            They crept back to the cliff in utter silence, their hearts heavy.


	12. Prisoner

Chapter 12:

Prisoner

            Brynn awoke slowly, ascending through a long, dark tunnel of haziness and pain.  Her whole body ached, but especially her right shoulder and thigh and her ribs.  She lay on a bed of blankets in a room that smelled of herbs and incense.  The light was bad, that or her vision had yet to clear fully, but so far she could tell there wasn't much to see, just the bare _shoji panels that made up the walls and the woven mats that covered the floor.  Through one of the wall panels she could see some people moving.  One was carrying a lantern, and it cast as soft glow against the wall.  _

            The panel slid open and two women entered the room.  Both were young, but their hair was white as newly fallen snow.  One woman hung the lantern that she carried on a hook in the center of the room while the other woman knelt down next to Brynn's bed.

            "Ah, you are awake," said the woman.  "Wonderful."

            "Yeah, I'm awake," Brynn muttered.

            "You speak our language too!" exclaimed the woman.  "Few foreigners know it."

            Brynn tried to sit up, but the woman pressed her back into the bed with strong but gentle hands.  "Who are you, anyway? And why aren't I dead?" Brynn demanded.

            "So eager to die?" asked the second woman.  "Shouldn't you be telling us who you are first?"

            Brynn scowled.  "My name is Brynn Trueblade."

            Both of the women frowned and struggled to speak the foreign syllables.

            After having heard enough of them massacring her name Brynn said, "But it'd be easer if you just called me Brynn. So who are you, and why aren't I dead?"

            The first woman said, "I am Hanabishi Asako."

            The second woman said, "I am Hanabishi Yoruko."

            _Morning child and night child, Brynn thought to herself.  She looked closer at the two women, and for the first time saw that they were identical to the last detail.  Twins, then, identical twins.  "I'd say I was pleased to meet you," Brynn said, "but I'm not."_

            "Excuse me?" asked Yoruko sharply.

            "What did you think I was going to say?" Brynn returned.  "Did you think I was going to tell you I was happy to be here, a prisoner and hurting like the blazes, just because it allowed me to meet you two?"

            "No, of course not," said Asako.  "Still, there are some standards of politeness that should be met.  I _am pleased to meet you."_

            "Oh, are you?" Brynn muttered under her breath in Common.

            "Pardon?"

            "Nothing," Brynn replied.  "I'm sorry if I was rude, it's just… well, as I said before, I hurt and I'm a prisoner.  Quite frankly I've never much enjoyed being either, let alone both at the same time."  Not to mention the fact that the last time she was this helpless it was in Spellhold before Irenicus took her soul from her and plunged her into the darkest time of her life.

            "Understandable," said Asako.  Yoruko just nodded, her dark eyes narrowed appraisingly beneath her white brows.  "Now, I will help you up and see how you are healing.  If you are well enough the Emperor will see you today."

            "I'm honored," Brynn said, trying to sound as sincere as possible.

            "Yoru-chan, bring that lantern  closer, would you?" Asako asked her sister.  Yoruko obeyed while Asako helped Brynn sit up and pulled the blankets away from her.  

Brynn noticed now that she was dressed in a thin silk sleeping kimono.  It was worn, and not of the highest quality, which was probably a good thing, because blood had leaked through the bandages that bound her wounds and had stained the silk in some places.  

Asako made small noises of annoyance as she peeled the bandages away.  "You must have moved in your sleep and reopened the wounds.  I will give you something so that you rest better tonight.  You will never heal if you keep tearing your wounds open."

"Yeah, 'cause wouldn't it be a shame for me to be anything but in perfect health when you_ execute me," Brynn said in Common._

"Pardon?"

"Nothing," Brynn replied, "just a saying back in my land that pertained to this sort of thing.  It doesn't translate well."

"Ah, is that so?" 

Asako began to unwrap the last layer of bandages around Brynn's ribs and shoulder.  Brynn's skin stuck to the bandage where she had begun to heal, and the slow, careful tugs Asako used to remove the bandage sent sharp tingles of pain through Brynn's flesh.  She winced a little, but bore it well.

"This will scar of course, unless we take you to someone who is a more powerful healer than I," said Asako.  "But you have many scars, Brynn-san," she said.  "None that are so visible, but there are many of them nonetheless."

"Yeah, well fighting does that."

"None on your face though, that is a blessing, isn't it?"

Brynn nodded, a little uncomfortable with making small talk with her captors.  "Yeah, I guess so," she said.

Yoruko said, "I heard the guards say you were a Kensai, is that true?"

"Uh… yeah," Brynn answered.  She was definitely beginning to think she was being interrogated now.

"Ah, is that so? If I may ask, how did you become a Kensai if you are a foreigner?"

"My master came from Wa many years ago," Brynn said.  "He taught me when I was young."

Asako stood up and went outside the room briefly.  She returned with a jar of very pungent salve and knelt down next to Brynn again to begin applying the salve to Brynn's wounds.  Whatever it was, it burned like fire on her raw flesh and it was all she could do not to squirm.

Yoruko took advantage of Brynn's discomfort to press her questions further.  "What was your master's name, if I may ask."

"Kurai Touga," Brynn said, seeing no harm in letting the two women know that small piece of information.

"Is that so?" Asako asked suddenly.  She paused in her duties to regard Brynn with wide eyes and arched white brows.  "The infamous Kurai Touga was your master?"

"I knew he'd been exiled," Brynn said, "I didn't know he was _infamous."_

"Oh, the whole court was talking about it for months.  Or so I hear. We were only children then," Asako said, indicating herself and her twin.  "Oh, the Emperor will be most eager to speak with you when he hears this news."

_On second thought, Brynn said to herself, __maybe it wasn't such a good idea to let them know who trained me. _

"Did Kurai-san come with you?" Yoruko pressed.

Brynn began testily, "I really would rather not…" Asako chose that moment to slather another dollop of salve onto Brynn's ribs, and there was no time to prepare for the stinging pain of it.  Brynn let out a sharp shout.  She had no doubt that Asako had done what she had done when she had done it in retribution for her lack of forthcoming.  She felt anger well up in her, but put it neatly away.  There was no point in calling the other woman out; she would deny it, and nothing Brynn could say would make her change her mind, but there was a point in using her wits to keep from giving the two women any critical information.

"Did Kurai-san come with you?" Yoruko asked again in a sweet voice.

"Well of course he did," Brynn told her.  "Though he's probably long gone by now along with all the rest of my companions."

"The loyalty of foreigners and ronin is fleeting, yes?"

Brynn chose to ignore that.  "I suppose so," she said casually.

Asako took clean bandages and began to wrap Brynn's chest and shoulder again.  Then she started on her thigh, and again the sharp tugs of the bandages coming off sent jolts of pain right up to Brynn's eyes.

"So, why did you come here anyway? Surely you must know that you are not welcome here," Yoruko said.

"My master wished me to," Brynn replied.  "So I came."

"What did your master want here?"

"I don't know."  Brynn sat with a straight face as Asako gave a particularly hard tug.

"Oh, I'm sorry? Did that hurt much?" she asked.

"No, not at all," Brynn said evenly.  _You'll have to try harder than that to get me to talk, she thought. __I won't betray my friends over as little pain as that, and if you think I will, you're dead wrong._

"So, you don't know what your master wanted on this island?" Yoruko asked again.

"No, just that he wanted to come here," Brynn said.  Another sharp tug and the bandage came free.

"He told you nothing?"

"Did he have to? He's my master, and so I did as he wished."

This time Asako was not so gentle in applying the salve as she had been before.  The pressure was mounting for Brynn to start answering or else face the consequences. Brynn smiled inwardly, welcoming the pain.  Let it come.  A little sting was nothing compared to what she had endured before.

"Really? I suppose foreigners can be loyal _sometimes then."_

"I suppose so."

Yoruko smiled with false warmth.  "How honorable of you.  Asa-chan, are you almost done?"

"Yes," Asako replied.  She wrapped Brynn's leg up again.  "You will be well enough to see the Emperor this afternoon," she said to Brynn.  "He will be very pleased."  She stood and gave a slight bow.  "I will see you again, Brynn-san."

"As will I," Yoruko added.  It sounded more like a threat than a promise.

"Looking forward to it," Brynn told them with a grin.  _Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!_

Both women smiled tightly and exited, taking the lantern with them and leaving Brynn alone in the empty room once more.  She gingerly laid back down on the futon and one-handed pulled the blankets up to her chin.  She groaned quietly, her wounds burning from the salve.  She closed her eyes then and began to plan.  She wasn't a diplomat by a long shot, but neither was she ignorant of the games diplomats played.  Those games, she knew, were exactly the sort of games Asako and Yoruko had been playing with her.  Games of power, trust and authority.  Well, she could play too, and damned if she wasn't going to win.

***

            Back at the hidden cove the Blades had gathered on the beach to hear what Yoshimo, Anomen and Haer'Dalis had to tell them.  A great surge of energy filled them all when they heard that Brynn had been captured, and the general feeling was that storming the prison to rescue her would be the most appropriate thing to do.  Then they calmed down and realized the futility of such a move.  It was clear that a frontal assault was hopeless, but still, there had to be a way.  

            So they huddled together and plotted and came up with a plan.  

            Then they waited for night to fall.

***  
  


            "You crept away like a coward."

            Yoshimo jerked his head up, yanked rudely out of his private hell by Touga's sneering voice.

            "You heard me, thief, you slunk away like a rat while Brynn was taken prisoner," Touga said, his dark eyes narrowed until they seemed no more than two obsidian chips.  "You are lower than I ever expected.  Does loyalty hold no meaning for you?"

            "Don't taunt me, old man," Yoshimo said in a soft, dangerous tone.  "Don't you dare taunt me."

            Touga's lips twisted into a mocking, hateful grin.  "And now," he said coldly, "now you sit here and do nothing.  They probably torture her as we speak…"

            Yoshimo moved so quickly Touga didn't even see him.  The old Kensai only felt the icy cold razor edge of Yoshimo's katana pressed up against his windpipe.  "I warn you again, old man.  Don't taunt me.  I would tear your head from your body with my bare hands now, but I may need you yet, and the questions would be hard to answer."

            "Prove a coward again then," Touga pressed, baring his neck to the blade.  "Kill me now and we shall never know the truth.  Kill me now and you will never know who would have really won in a fair fight.  But then, you never fought fairly did you?"

            Yoshimo withdrew a step and lowered his sword.  "We will settle this, old man.  When Brynn is safe again, we will settle this.  But not before.  You may be willing to risk her life over your stupid pride, but not I.  Mark me, Kurai Touga, I will best you again, and not even Brynn will stop me from giving you what you have earned."

            "I welcome your attempts, fool, but know you will not succeed."  Touga gave him a superior smile and walked away down the beach.

            Slowly, Yoshimo unclenched his fists.  It would take no more than a moment to draw his bow, knock an arrow and let fly.  No doubt Touga wouldn't be expecting it, no doubt the arrow would strike true, and then the old man would be out of his hair forever.  He kept his hands at his sides.  He could strike the old Kensai down, but what would be the point?  As much as Touga did, Yoshimo wanted to prove he was the better man, if in nothing else but sword fighting.  There was a time and a place for everything, and it was not the time for Touga to die.

            Soon though, very soon.


	13. Complications

Chapter 13:

Complications

            As promised, the Emperor himself came to visit Brynn that very afternoon accompanied by six armed and armored guards.  Brynn had to wonder what they thought she was going to do, injured and unarmed as she was.  In light of the damage she had done to the guards of the prison it didn't seem too ridiculous, though.  They respected her enough to be careful, which meant they wouldn't make the same mistakes so many of her other enemies had.  That would be a problem when it came time to escape, no doubt they had guards on her too, though she couldn't see them.

            "Good afternoon," the Emperor said, his voice the silky, cultured voice of a learned noble and diplomat.  "I trust you are feeling better?"

            Brynn resisted the urge to make a snide comment.  That wouldn't do anything but get her in trouble now.  "I am," she said, conscious of her accent.  "And you, my lord?"

            "I am well," the Emperor replied.  "I am troubled with curiosity though.  What brought you here, and why did you wish to free my errant cousin?"

            "Your cousin?"

            "The lady Hanazawa."

            "I see.  Why do you ask?"

            The Emperor smiled serenely.  "I wish to know."

            "Why do you wish to know?"

            The smile faded.  "I would have that you would answer my questions, and not the other way around."

            "I came because my master asked me to.  I'm sure those two women must have told you as much."

            "Ah yes, your master was Kurai Touga?  My cousin's betrothed?"

            "Yes."

            "Elaborate please.  How did he come to be your master?"

            "He came to where I was living, and he trained me."

            "I can hardly be as simple as that."

            "It's not, but I don't care to go into all the details.  I'm sure they would bore you, my lord."

            "I would not be so presumptuous.  Tell me, has your master been in your company all these long years?"

            "No, he left five years ago to return here, to his homeland."

            "And then he came back to you again to request your help?"

            "Yes."

            Another smile, this time quietly triumphant.  "To free his traitorous betrothed?"

            "To free his wrongfully imprisoned betrothed," Brynn corrected politely.

            "Wrongfully imprisoned?"

            "My master said that she was accused of treason against the Shogun, but that she had done nothing wrong.  I believed him."

            "I assure you that the accusations against my cousin were well founded."

            "Well, regardless, that's why I came."

            "You must know that you came on a fool's errand."

            "I don't know, I succeeded didn't I?"

            "In freeing my cousin, yes, but you were also captured."

            "A minor inconvenience.  As soon as I'm well I'll be free.  Don't doubt that."

            "How if you can never wield your swords again?"

            Brynn started.  "Excuse me?"

            That triumphant smile came back.  "Pardon, but surely you must know that without proper treatment those wounds my soldiers gave you will not heal properly.  You will be a cripple."

            It was difficult, but Brynn managed to keep the horror she felt from showing up on her face. Crippled? Unable to fight? He had to be exaggerating.

            "Of course, I will see to it that you are given proper care, so long as you behave yourself," the Emperor continued mildly.  "I am, as I said before, curious, and answers that sate my curiosity will result in your continued well being."

            The word,_ 'bastard,' came to Brynn's mind, but she didn't say it.  Instead she said, "You are very generous, my lord."_

            "You are very wise to see that.  I will send Asako and Yoruko to you after I leave.  They will prepare you for transportation to my palace."

            "Pardon?"

            "Surely you did not think I would stay here until you had finished your convalescence.  You will join me at my palace of course."

            "When… when will we be leaving?"

            "As soon as Asako and Yoruko have prepared you for travel.  This evening before the sun has fully set."

            The Emperor left, some of his guards leading him, and others following close behind.

***

            Brynn tried to delay.  She tried everything she could think of to slow the twin sisters down, but Asako and Yoruko were liberal with their use of pain as a tool to get her to behave, and Brynn was conscious of the fact that they were undyingly loyal to their Emperor.  Nothing she did could slow their agenda even a minute, though she even tried insulting them.  All that earned her was a brisk slap from Yoruko and rough treatment from Asako.  Even as she was half-carried over to the teleportation circle by two guards she continued to try to find some way to delay her departure until her friends could arrive and rescue her.  Her failure filled her with melancholy and a sense of the inevitability of what was happening.  For the first time in a long time she was helpless, a leaf tossed about on the winds of fate and the currents made by others.  

            The Emperor, his guards, the twins and Brynn all stood within the circle, and Yoruko chanted the spell that would activate it.  Then the prison winked out of existence, and Brynn found herself in a beautiful garden.  She looked around, feeling very small, and very, very alone.

***

            Night fell over the prison island, and the Blades crept up on the prison.  Immediately Yoshimo knew something was wrong.  Something was out of place.  The dead had been buried, the grounds wiped clean of any signs of battle, that was all perfectly normal, but something was definitely amiss.

            Guards at the prison gate were felled by heavy blows to the head, left unconscious in the shadows, and the Blades slipped into the prison proper.  One long, low building served as the guard's headquarters and also the place where particularly ill-behaved prisoners were kept, according to Yukiko.  That was where they went, sneaking across the grounds.  They were seen by a group of guards, but well placed arrows felled their foes before they had a chance to sound the alarm.  They made their way into the low building, and guided by the light that came from one of the rooms, they made their way into the quarters of the captain.

            The new captain, only having been in command since that afternoon when his superior had been slain, was busily writing a letter to his fiancée, when the Blades interrupted him.  Minsc picked the unfortunate man up by the front of his kimono, spilling his papers and his writing brush.

            Yoshimo, his face grim and serious, said, "The prisoner you took this afternoon, where is she?"

            "What?"

            Minsc shook the man roughly, and Yoshimo asked again, "You took a prisoner this afternoon, yes? Where is she?"

            "Why do you want to know? Who are you?  Who are all these barbarians?" He opened his mouth to shout for his guards, but found the point of a dagger sticking into his throat courtesy of Imoen.  The red-headed mage couldn't speak the captain's language, but the message her dagger sent transcended language.  Try it, it said, try it and see how long you live.

            "None of that matters," Yoshimo said sharply.  "All that matters now is where you put Brynn."

            "Who?"

            "Brynn! Your newest prisoner.  Are you stupid?"

            "The one we took this afternoon?"

            "Yes!"

            "The one that caused all the trouble and killed the guards and my honorable predecessor?"

            "Yes! Yes that one, fool!"

            "The… the Emperor took her when he went back to his palace."

            "What? When?"

            "A few hours ago! Just before the sun set!" the poor captain was shaking now, and with good reason.  With Imoen's dagger pressed against his throat, and Minsc's mighty paws holding him a good foot in the air, not to mention Yoshimo's deadly serious expression and anger, he had very real things to worry about.  A glance beyond his three closest interrogators he saw many, many more serious, angry faces and many, many sharp, deadly weapons gleaming in the light of the lantern.

            "Damn it!" Yoshimo swore, turning around and stalking about the room.  "Put that fool down, Minsc, he's of no use to us anymore."

            "I suggest you calm down," Jaheira said, using her own calm tone as an example.  "Such aggravation will get us nowhere."

            "Calm down?" Yoshimo demanded.  "Calm…! No, you are right," he said, collecting himself.  "Yes, calm is what is needed."

            "Now, I suggest we leave before the guards find us," Jaheira continued.  "I would like to keep everyone together."

            Yoshimo nodded.  He forced his face into an  expression of impassivity, but his eyes blazed darkly.  "Come, let's go.  We have work to do."

            The Blades snuck out as quietly and quickly as they had snuck in, and soon they were back to their submarine and on their way back to the ship.  This quest that had outwardly seemed so simple had suddenly gotten very complex indeed.

To Be Continued

________________________________________________________________________

A/N: Now here's the important question for you to ask yourself: Why does the Emperor want Brynn alive?  The answer will be coming up in the next couple of chapters.


	14. Deal with the Devil

Chapter 14:

            The capital of Wa was a paragon of order.  It was laid out neatly, according to an overall design that had been drawn up at the city's creation.  It was clean and kept that way according to ancient beliefs and customs.  Still, beneath the order and cleanliness lurked the grime and filth that found its way into every city, no matter how well cared for.  This decay could be found in the homes of the poor, the disenfranchised, and the low caste.  

Chief amongst these low-caste societal throw-aways were the _eta, those who dealt with the distasteful task of disposing of trash and the dead.  These poorest of the poor lived apart from the city, unable to rise above what they had been born into.  It was believed that one was born an __eta because they had incurred a karmic debt in another life, and that when they died, if they lived as piously as they could, that an __eta could be reborn above their former caste.  Perhaps it was this belief that allowed the orderly people of Wa to enslave and degrade their fellow man._

It was through the _eta village that the Blades entered the capital, sneaking over walls and through gates under the protection of an __invisibility spell during the wee hours of the morning.  At Yoshimo's direction the put all their weapons and armor, save a few easily concealable things, into the bag of holding they had brought along, and then donned their disguises._

"I never thought I'd have to actually use this," Imoen said quietly, more to herself than the others, as she slipped her magic ring onto one of her fingers.  Her features shifted to those of a rather plain-looking Kara-Turan woman.  "Good?"

Touga, Yukiko and Yoshimo appraised her with careful eyes.  "Good enough," Touga said.

"Fix the kimono," Yoshimo suggested.

"Not enough blousing?"

"No, too much cleavage," Yukiko said gently.

Imoen adjusted her garment with a blush.

Once everyone was properly disguised the group made their way to an inn that Touga indicated would be fairly reputable, but one at which the arrival of a large number of people would not cause too much fuss. 

As soon as they had rooms Yoshimo took the bag of holding and rummaged through it.  He took out two enchanted daggers and hid them in the long, flowing sleeves of his clothes.  Then he dug into the gem bag the Blades kept filled with jewels and such as back up currency and pulled out two fine pearl necklaces and a pair of matching earrings.  Then he went to find Jaheira.

Yoshimo smiled grimly.  "I will be going out for a while, keep an eye on both Touga and Yukiko.  I don't trust either of them." Without giving any more of an answer, he ducked out of the inn and vanished into the streets.

***

Some quarters of the imperial capital made the seedier districts of Athkatla look tame in comparison.  It was to these quarters that Yoshimo went, in particular a certain portion of the red light district he knew his current quarry frequented.  Or at least, had sixteen years ago.  He knocked on the door of the House of the Jade Willow and waited.  In a moment the door slid open a crack and a little girl peeked out.

He knelt down and held out the earrings, saying to the girl, "Go take this to the mama-san, please, and tell her that if she will meet with me I have more gifts for her." 

The little girl looked at him with wide eyes and bowed deeply before she hurriedly closed the door and ran back to relay the message.  It didn't take long for the door to open again, this time wider, and an old woman, impeccably coiffed and made up, greeted him.

They went through a formal introduction, and then Yoshimo said politely, "Pardon me for arriving unannounced, but I was wondering if I might have a word with you."

"Perhaps…" the mama-san began

Yoshimo reached into the folds of his clothes and withdrew the first necklace.

"… That could easily be arranged," she finished, eyeing the necklace with shrewd and greedy eyes.  "Please come in." She ushered him inside and sat him down in a small, tidy room, at a low wooden table.  "Hana-chan, fetch tea for our honored guest!"  The little girl, who had been peering into the room from the doorway, scuttled away.  The Mama-san waited for the tea to arrive before she spoke again.  "What brings you here, honored lord?"

Yoshimo half-smiled.  "I'm no 'honored lord,'" he said, "but I can pay like one.  I'm looking for a man, Hiruma Sabishii, and last I knew he was a patron of this establishment.  I was hoping you could tell me where I might find him."

The Mama-san looked very suspicious all of a sudden.  "Why are you looking for Hiruma-san?"

"I have some business to discuss with him."

"What sort of business?"

"Sorry, I can't reveal that," Yoshimo stood up.  "I'm sorry to have troubled you.  If you see Hiruma-san, please send him to me."  He set the second necklace down on the table.

"Where will you be?" The Mama-san's eyes never left the necklace.

Yoshimo gave her the name of the inn where the Blades were staying.  "Thank you for the tea, and have a pleasant night." He bowed and the Mama-san saw him out.

Almost as soon as Yoshimo got back to the inn Jaheira tracked him down.  "Did your… excursion… go well?" she inquired.

Yoshimo nodded.  "By tomorrow evening someone who might know a way into the Imperial Palace will probably come here to meet with me.  What about the old man?"

Jaheira shrugged.  "He did nothing that seemed suspicious to me."

Yoshimo said softly, "I trust him about as far as I can throw him."

"I said more or less the same thing about you once," Jaheira pointed out.

"Yes, but then, you couldn't trust me in the end, could you?"

***

            Brynn had free run of the Imperial Palace, more or less.  She had to be helped anywhere she wanted to go, and armed guards escorted her the whole time, but she could go where she chose.  She spent most of her time in the garden or watching the palace guards practiced their katas.  She longed to be able to pick up her own blades and join them, or even just to feel the familiar weight in her hands.  It was very hard for the usually active Kensai to sit and convalesce.

She had been at the palace for a week and a half already, and under Asako's care she was healing slowly.  At least she was healing though.  She had done her best to behave herself, keeping her normally flippant tongue in check and her ire under control, and so the Emperor had given Asako instructions to make sure she got the best possible care.  Still, she worried about what might happen if something went wrong.  She had nightmares about being crippled for the rest of her life, unable to walk without limping, her trademark grace and power gone forever.  It terrified her.  What would she be then? Not a Kensai, of that she was certain.  A Kensai who couldn't wield her sword was no Kensai at all.  She would be nothing but an invalid, a helpless, hopeless invalid.

Today she sat in the practice room, where the residents of the palace would work on their swordplay.  She settled into one corner of the room, her ever-present guards surrounding her, but not obstructing her view.  Sometimes, she wished they would.  She didn't know why she forced herself to watch others practice, it brought all of her fears to the front of her mind and made her heart ache.  It also irritated her to no end to know that she could best all of these silly children at once, if she had her swords and she was in top form, but they looked at her like she was some kind of freak.  An incapable freak, because, after all, even if the Emperor had spared her because he was impressed with her skill on the prison island –which was the rumor that was going around- she couldn't really be all that good.  She was _just a barbarian.  A crippled, helpless, ignorant barbarian.  As soon as she was completely better she would show those clowns just what she could do.  She would show them that 'barbarian' didn't mean 'unskilled.'_

Of course, that would only be if she was still in the palace by the time her wounds were healed.  She hoped that the Blades would find a way to get her out before then.  She knew they had to be trying; they wouldn't leave her imprisoned after all.  She missed them all terribly, most of all Yoshimo.  She could really use a comforting hug and a kiss, even if she was too badly injured for more.  

She sighed.  Turning to her guards she said, "I'd like to go now."

Two of them helped her stand, and she leaned heavily on one as they left the practice room.

"Where will you be going, Brynn-san?"

Brynn resisted the urge to shrug, it hurt too much.  "Back to my room I suppose.  I'm tired."  _And lonely, and frightened, but I won't tell you that.  They made their way through the palace at a slow pace to accommodate Brynn, which bothered her, but they eventually got there.  _

"Is there anything you want?"

"No, I think… I think I'm just going to go to sleep," Brynn said.  She hobbled over to her futon and sat down gingerly.

The guards bowed almost in unison and backed out of the door and shut it.  Brynn lay down and half-curled up on her uninjured side.  The bandages itched slightly, and every deep breath she took stretched her torn flesh, but she put aside that discomfort and closed her eyes.  If only she slept, then the days would go by faster, and sooner than she expected her wounds would be healed and her friends would be there to rescue her.  It was, much to her dismay, the only thing she could do to help them.

***

            It was the scars that gave away the identity of the aging man that walked into the inn where the Blades were staying, that and the way the other patrons avoided him, giving him wide berth as he passed.  Mostly though, it was the scars.  His face was covered with them, some small, some large and ugly.  One of his eyes was scarred closed, but the other gleamed darkly with the light of a crafty and suspicious intellect.

            In one of the inn's dark corners, Yoshimo pulled the hood of his cloak up and walked over to the scarred man.  "Hiruma Sabishii?" he inquired in a low voice.

            The man grunted in affirmation.

            "Please come with me."

            The two of them walked up to one of the Blades rooms, one that was empty and one which Yoshimo had specially prepared, and shut the door.

            "What do you want from me?" asked Hiruma gruffly.  "I don't like to waste my time."

            "Please, have a seat."  Reluctantly, Hiruma sat down, and Yoshimo followed suit.  Then he pushed back his hood.

            Hiruma straightened suddenly, his good eye narrowing furtively.  "You!" he hissed.  "What are _you doing here?"_

            "I need information, and knew you were the source from which I could obtain it."

            Hiruma laughed, his voice filling up the small room.  "What makes you think I will help you?" he demanded when his laughter had subsided.  "I should kill you here and now, boy.  There is still a bounty on your head, not much of one, but enough to keep me comfortable for a few weeks at least."

            "You can try," Yoshimo said, "but I think you would find that I'm no longer the child I was sixteen years ago.  While you have grown old I have grown up, and you could not stand against me now, not for your life, which is what it would come down to in the end."

            Hiruma flared with anger.  "Watch your tongue!  I'm still master over my domain.  Now, tell me why I should give you the information you want?"

            "There's profit in it for you, why else?  I'm no fool.  I know that your assistance comes with a price."

            "How much?"

            "You tell me what the information might be worth," Yoshimo countered.  "I, and a number of companions, need to get into the Imperial Palace, and we need to do it quickly, quietly and secretly.  Were I alone going it would have been an easy enough task, but the addition of my companions complicates things."

            Suspicious, Hiruma looked around the room.  "This is not the place to be discussing such things.  The walls have ears in these places."

            Yoshimo waved one hand dismissively.  "My companions have the room warded.  No one can hear us either by normal means or by magic.  Now, tell me, is there a way into the palace that I could use and how much will it cost for you to tell me where it is?"

            Hiruma glared.  "Don't brush me off as if I were a beggar," he growled.  "I'll tell you when I want."

            "You'll tell me now or I'll make sure you never see the sunrise."

            "You would, wouldn't you?" Hiruma mused.  "What is in that palace that you want so badly I wonder?"

            "That," said Yoshimo "is not the issue.  Can you help me or not?"

            "I believe I can.  But it will cost you many fortunes."

            "We will pay."

            Hiruma smiled tightly, as if he had just won a victory but didn't want everyone to know exactly how glad he was about it.  "Good.  We meet five days from now at a place of my choosing.  You will bring twenty-five koku worth of gems or gold, or both, and I will bring the information you require."

            "We can't wait five days," Yoshimo told him.  "We need to get into the palace tomorrow, or at the latest the day after that."

            Hiruma laughed.  "You're a fool.  There's no way I can get the information you require by that time…"

            "I'll double your payment."

            Hiruma considered that.  "Fine, but it will be the day after tomorrow at the earliest.  You know how it works, I can't move any quicker than that."

            "Then it is a deal," Yoshimo told him.  "Where do you want to meet?"

            "I'll send someone to you with that tomorrow."

            "Fine."

            Hiruma stood and walked out of the room.  He paused just outside the doorway and said, "It was good to see you again."

            Yoshimo felt a chill go up his spine, and it didn't leave him until many hours after his former mentor was gone.


	15. The First Hints

Chapter 15:

The First Hints

            Brynn fidgeted irritably, longing more than ever to get her hands on her katanas again, if for nothing more than to put an end to the torture she was being subjected to.  The Emperor had invited her to his personal rooms, and then he, Asako and Yoruko led her out into the Emperor's private courtyard garden and beneath a pavilion that had been set up there.  Then the three of the subjected her to the cruelest torture Brynn had ever imagined: the _tea ceremony._

            She had heard Master Touga talk about tea ceremonies with glowing praise and a sort of wistful voice.  He missed them, of course, having been raised in a noble family and trained to appreciate all the finer things in life, but Brynn found the whole nonsense unbearable.  Asako served the tea, and then, for _three hours, they knelt at the small table under the pavilion and sipped at their cups, one sip at a time draining the green liquid until it was almost gone.  There was no conversation, nothing to break up the slow, almost hypnotic sound of the four of them drinking.  It would have been bad enough if the silence was the only real problem, but Brynn's injured leg protested so much at being forced to kneel for so long, sitting on the heels of her crossed feet, the muscle around the wound stretching as she did so, that it almost brought her to tears.  Her side ached too from having to sit up straight for so long, and her feet had fallen asleep well within the first hour.  She figured she would have to be carried back to her room because there was no way that she was going to be able to walk after this._

            At last the Emperor set his cup down and let out a quiet sigh of contentment.  "Are you enjoying yourself, Brynn-san?" he asked politely.

            Brynn wanted to tell him that, no, she was miserable, and that she would much rather be poked with a red-hot iron rod than endure one more moment of kneeling and drinking tea, but she held herself back.  "Yes, thank you," she said tautly over the pain in her leg and side.  "You have a lovely garden."

            "Oh no," the Emperor demurred, "it is not so nice.  The palace gardeners could have done better, but I wanted to design it myself."  Brynn could see that contrary to what he said, the Emperor was very pleased with what he had accomplished.  He had reason to be of course, the garden truly was lovely, but Brynn found his smug self assurance grating and obnoxious.

            "How have you been enjoying my hospitality?"

            Hospitality?  She was a prisoner, trapped more by her own infirmity than iron bars, true, but she was no less a prisoner for being bound in a cage of pain, sly tricks and silk.  "It's been very pleasant," she said.  "I've enjoyed it very much.  Still…" she trailed off.

            "What is it, Brynn-san?" Yoruko asked.  "Is something not to your liking?"  There was the faintest hint of malice in her voice, as if she were enjoying every moment of Brynn's suffering.

            "No, no, it would be rude," Brynn protested, playing their little game of masks and layered deceptions.

            "Oh, please, tell us if there is something amiss," Asako encouraged her.  She too seemed not displeased that Brynn was uncomfortable, but she either wasn't as obvious as her sister, or she wasn't as vicious to begin with.

            "Well…" Brynn began hesitantly, "you and I both know that I don't belong here, this is all too much for me, I think.  I was wondering if… no it's too much to ask."

            "Go on, please," the Emperor prodded her.

            "I would like to go home, if it's no trouble," Brynn said at last.  "I've enjoyed my stay with you, Your Highness, but I feel like a fish out of water.  I think it would be best if I returned to my own land, don't you?"

            "Of course, of course," the Emperor agreed, "and you will very shortly.  I have it on good faith that your companions will be coming for you tomorrow in fact.  I was wondering if you would like to welcome them with me."

            Brynn's blood ran like ice water.  "I don't understand, Your Highness, not to imply that you could be wrong, but perhaps your informants were mistaken.  I'm sure my companions have left already."

            "Oh no, I'm sure my sources are quite accurate," the Emperor corrected her.  "It seems Barbarians can be more loyal than I had thought.  They will be arriving some time tomorrow night.  Would you like to be there when I greet them?"

            "Of course she would, wouldn't you Brynn-san?" Yoruko asked sweetly.

            Brynn didn't know what to say at first, but she realized she had no choice but to agree.  "Of course," she said quietly, "I can't think of anything else I rather do."

***

            As Hiruma had promised, a teenage boy arrived the day after his meeting with Yoshimo and delivered a message indicating a time and place where they were to meet the next evening.  The boy gave Yoshimo a curious look as he was leaving, which made the bounty hunter a little wary.  Having performed similar duties while he himself was under Hiruma's tutelage, Yoshimo knew very well that it was never wise to look at one of Hiruma's customers with wondering eyes if you were only a boy, particularly if you had any aspirations of living to manhood.  Either there was something fishy going on, which, knowing Hiruma, there undoubtedly was, or the boy was just stupid, which, knowing Hiruma's rigorous training practices, was very unlikely.

            Thus, when the Blades arrived at the appointed meeting place at the appointed time, they were not only armed as they needed to be for the rest of the mission, but very alert and ready for any subterfuge.  Five people were waiting for them, Hiruma and four women dressed in men's clothing, though Yoshimo guessed that was not so much to hide their gender as it was to give them a free range of movement.  It was dark so he couldn't see their faces, but if it was the four women he was thinking it was Yoshimo would have almost preferred subterfuge.

            "Do you have our money?" Hiruma growled quietly as they approached.

            Jaheira handed him a sack of gems and coins, items that Yoshimo had gone over personally and decided were all together worth the sum that Hiruma had mentioned.  He wasn't taking any chances, and no one else knew what the hell a 'koku' was in the first place, so they wouldn't know what to pay.

            Hiruma took the sack, ignoring Jaheira's dark stare, and handed it to one of the women.  "We wait here until it has been counted," he said.

            Yoshimo snapped, "There is no time for that, old man!"

            "Either we wait or we don't go at all," Hiruma replied, unusually even-tempered.  The man's moods were manifold as easily changed, but normally he wouldn't take insults or anything that even remotely resembled a threat with such a calm demeanor.  

Yoshimo grew warier.  "We go now," he said firmly.  "I never lied to you before, why would I start now?"

Hiruma started, and Yoshimo smiled. Then Hiruma chuckled.  "That's what I said to you, isn't it?  Before you took my eye?"

"Before you _betrayed me, actually," Yoshimo corrected casually.  "Nevertheless, unlike you, I mean what I say.  This is too important to me to risk by cheating a nothing like you."_

"Oh! Yoshimo-kun!" exclaimed one of the women, "that's just terrible!"

"Oh yes! Just awful!" chorused a second.

"Terribly funny though, I have to say," added a third.

Those of the Blades who were watching Yoshimo actually saw him wince as his fears were proved true.  It was _them_.  The three people who had made his year in Hiruma's household one of the most awful years of his life.  This was how Hiruma was getting him back for his eye, he decided.  Having once faced death and come back again, there were very, very few things in the world that frightened Yoshimo more than facing the Terrible Threesome again.

He had a faint hope that in the sixteen years since he'd last seen them that they had grown up, but no, his hopes were dashed when they, in unison, leapt on him and bore him to the ground in a flailing, kicking knot of limbs.  He managed to extricate himself from their over-enthusiastic hug and got to his feet again, feeling none the worse for wear physically, but more or less like he'd had his pride and reputation stomped on by a herd of rampaging elephants.  Two words easily described how he felt and they were: not happy.

"Why did you bring them?" he demanded angrily of Hiruma.  "This is none of their business."

"Yoshimo-kun!" one of the women said in a hurt little voice, "aren't you glad to see us?"

"Don't worry, Kurenai-chan, that's just how he is, remember?" said the second, patting the first girl on the shoulder.

"Hana-chan, he doesn't love us anymore!" Kurenai bawled the other woman's shoulder.

The third woman, Ayame by process of elimination, rubbed Kurenai's back and said, "There, there, he didn't mean it Kurenai-chan, he's just cranky.  You remember how he gets cranky don't you?"

Kurenai sniffed and look up at Yoshimo with her lower lip sticking out like a child's.  "You don't mean it?" she asked pleadingly.

Yoshimo, feeling a little cornered, said, "No, I didn't mean it."  He turned back to Hiruma and added, "But still, this is none of their business, and I want to know why you brought them along."

The fourth woman, who Yoshimo didn't doubt was Hiruma's long-time companion, Kaede, said, "Come now, Yoshimo, they wanted to see you again.  You needn't worry; we won't get in your way.  In fact, we came to help."

"Not to interrupt this… touching… family reunion," Anomen cut in somewhat acerbically, "but have things we must be doing."

"Ah yes, your little foray into the palace," Hiruma said.  "Follow me and I'll show you the back way in.  Try not to be too loud and obtrusive, though I know it'll be hard for you Barbarians to manage."

***

            "So, my friend, who _are_ those enthusiastic ladies?" Haer'Dalis asked as he walked along at Yoshimo's side.

            "Before you start, bard, no."

            "No what?" Haer'Dalis said innocently.

            "No.  Just no.  Whatever you are thinking regarding them I suggest you stop it now.  It's not worth the risk."

            "My, my, a touch overprotective of them, aren't you?"

            Yoshimo snorted.  "I'm protecting _you.  You may think yourself suave and sly, but those three would consider your machinations nothing more than the plots of foolish child.  You are out of your league."_

            "Surely you are overestimating them, my friend," Haer'Dalis said.  "This sparrow is no newcomer to the games that men and women play."

            "Actually," Yoshimo said darkly, "I think that I'm _under_estimating them.  Pursue one of them if you wish, but don't say I didn't warn you.  They're all madder than a priest of Cyric and twice as dangerous.  I shudder to think what they are like if they've kept up with their study of sorcery."

            "Oh, come now, they can hardly be as bad as you say," Haer'Dalis chided him.  "They seem quite free-spirited and fun-loving, almost childlike in their fashion."

            "That is merely one of their many ploys," Yoshimo warned him.  "Oh yes, it is _all fun and games until they tie you up on the floor and start drawing runes on you with chicken blood."_

            Haer'Dalis raised an eyebrow.  "Speaking from bitter experience?"

            "Not my own, thankfully."

            "What're you talking about, Yoshimo-kun?" asked Kurenai, sidling up on Yoshimo's other side and taking his arm in hers.  She craned her neck and grinned at Haer'Dalis.  "You have pretty blue hair."

            Yoshimo, Haer'Dalis noticed, paled visibly and something akin to a shudder ran up the bounty hunter's spine.  "Ayame…"

            "Chan!"

            "Kurenai-_chan," Yoshimo conceded reluctantly, "please release my arm."_

            "Why?"

            "Because I am going to need it very soon."  Yoshimo spoke in a voice that was better suited to talking to a small child than a grown woman.

            "Why?"

            "Because we are going to be fighting."

            "Why"

            "Because… aren't you a little too old for this game?"

            "Why?"

            "Because… arrrgh!" Yoshimo jerked his arm away from her and muttered under his breath, "And yet you still wonder why I was not pleased to see you!"

            Kurenai giggled.  "You're lots of fun still.  Good."

            "Will you be silent, filth!" Touga snarled from somewhere more toward the back of the group.  "Do you want to alert the entire empire to our presence?  Fools and filth all of you!"

            "He's grumpy," Kurenai whispered.

            "Go back to Kaede," Yoshimo instructed her.  "As much as I hate to say it I think that Touga is correct in this matter."

            Kurenai gave him a sad look, her lower lip sticking out again, and picked up her pace until she was walking beside her mistress again.  Yoshimo breathed a long, quiet sigh of relief.  "Do you see what I mean now?" he asked Haer'Dalis pointedly.

            Haer'Dalis shrugged.  "Well, I can see how they could get on one's nerves," he admitted.  "Do they always behave like this?"

            "As long as I knew them," Yoshimo replied, scrubbing his hands over his face in a tired manner.

            Haer'Dalis grinned devilishly.  "Why?"

            "I don't know."

            "Why?"

            "I… damn you to the hells, bard, don't you start that as well!"

***

            Touga, walking near the back of the group with Yukiko beside him, was irritated and nervous.  Irritated because the foolish Barbarians and that blasted ronin were loud and obnoxious –as always- and nervous because if anything went wrong now… well nothing good could come of all of his efforts if that happened.  Whatever had possessed that senile old rogue to bring his concubine and her apprentices along Touga hadn't a clue, but their presence was a severe complication, and not one that he had planned for.

            Probably sensing Touga's mood, Yukiko reached over and squeezed his hand reassuringly, communicating through that simple gesture her confidence that all their efforts would not be in vain.


	16. Traitors

Chapter 16:

Traitors

            A flock of maids, under the direction of Asako and Yoruko, made Brynn ready to meet her friends.  They chattered like garrulous crows as they swathed her in layer upon layer of blue, white and gold silk, remarking over her strange appearance as if they though she couldn't understand them.  Perhaps they did, because Brynn didn't say a word to any of them.  She moved when the pushed her one way or the other, let them manipulate her arms and legs like a doll's, but she didn't speak, even when their comments came close to insults.

            "What strange color!" exclaimed one of the maids and she brushed Brynn's hair and bound it up at the back of her skull in a complicated knot.

            "Her eyes too," agreed another.  "They're the color of sea."

            "More like the color of the fish _in_ the sea," a third joked.  "They're cold as fish scales."

            "This kimono just won't look right on her no matter how I try!" a fourth complained.  "She's all…" the woman made indistinct motions with her hands, "…All…"

            "Her breasts are too big," the fifth maid supplied, which wasn't something Brynn had heard before.  "And her buttocks are much too large as well."  That was another complaint Brynn had never heard.

            All the while Asako and Yoruko sat nearby, their expressions unreadable.  Brynn hated them, and perhaps the coldness in her eyes that the third maid had remarked upon was because she was in the back of her mind planning how she would make them pay for the suffering they'd put her through.  Irenicus' physical tortures were crude in comparison to the way those two snow-crowned demons tormented her mind.  Brynn was strong, she'd been through enough to have nearly as much steel in her soul as in her blades, but being helpless, truly helpless, turned thumb-screws into the heart of her very being.  She had no choice but to sit and let the maids play dress-up with her, no choice but to play along with the games that the Emperor wanted to play with her, because if she refused...

            If she refused they would cripple her.  The threat was there; they could as easily cut her hands off as let her wounds heal improperly, and she had no doubt that they would do it.  Or they could do something worse, like snap her spine, taking the feeling from her limbs and body, but leaving her alive in a body that wouldn't move, that _couldn't_ move.  Even the thought of it took her strength from her.  She was nothing without her physical ability.  She had almost been a Goddess, but the heights of power she had achieved would do her no good if she couldn't pick up her swords.

            The first maid patted Brynn's hair one last time, jolting her out of her reverie, and said, "Well, we've done the best we can."

            "You have done very well," Asako assured the maids.  "She looks almost presentable."

            "It's time," Yoruko said.  "We should go now that they are done."

            Struck by a sudden surge of defiance, Brynn stood up, ignoring the pain that shot through her leg as she put normal weight on it for the first time in almost a tenday.  "Shall we go then?" she said in clearly in eastern common.  She was pleased to note the astonishment on the faces of the maids.  "Asako-san, Yoruko-san, will you please guide me, I am afraid I do not know where we are going.  I would hate to keep the Emperor waiting after receiving his kind hospitality." She wasn't quite sure how, but she managed to sound sincere enough to make the sisters look at her with curious expressions.

            Despite their surprise Asako and Yoruko were quick to gracefully usher her out of the room.  Asako took up a place on Brynn's right, and Yoruko on her left, and four guards flanked them as they moved through the palace, two in front and two in back.  Brynn noted that the guards wore the same uniforms and the same emblems as the men who had captured her back at the prison.  The four of them walked with the sort of poise that was indicative of excellent training and superior swordsmanship.  She had little doubt that these men were the imperial elite, the very best in the entire empire of Wa, perhaps rivaled only by a very few people on and in Toril.  They were not nearly as skilled as she -at least when she wasn't injured- and she was sure that wasn't mere egotism on her part, but they were very, very good indeed, and in any large number they would be a certain challenge for the Blades to defeat, especially if the Emperor was holding her hostage against them.

            They reached the room the Emperor was in, and found him seated on a raised dais and silken cushions.  He gestured for the guards to take up positions at the front of the dais, two on each side, and Asako and Yoruko took Brynn with them to sit at the Emperor's feet.

            "Ah, Brynn-san, you are looking radiant this evening," the Emperor said grandly.  "Your friends will be astonished by the change in you.  I trust you are well?"

            "I am feeling better, Your Highness," Brynn replied matching his regal tone.  "You look well yourself."

            The Emperor smiled beneficently down at her.  "You are most gracious," he said.  "Now then," he continued, "We need only wait for your friends to arrive, and then our gathering will be complete.  I am very much looking forward to meeting them.  Is there anything you care to pass the time with while we wait?"

            "Your Highness," Brynn said suddenly, "may I ask a straightforward question of you, and if I do will you grace me with an equally straightforward answer?"

            The Emperor looked at her and nodded.  "I will do my best to answer you, if I deem your question to be worthy of an answer at all."

            "Why are you doing this?"

            "Why is His Highness doing _what_, Brynn-san?" Asako inquired.

            Brynn kept her eyes on the Emperor when she clarified, "Why are you treating me like this?  If it is your intention to kill me, as I think it is, why not just do it and be done?  Do you want to dishonor me with capture, or is this merely to sate some curiosity?  If it is neither of those, what can you want with me?"

            The Emperor smiled slightly.  "Let us wait for your friends to arrive for that question to be answered," he said softly. "It is their concern as well as yours, and I would hate to have to repeat myself."

            "And what if they don't care to listen?" 

            "Then they will be dealt with."

            Brynn shivered, struck by the cool assurance in the Emperor's voice.  "I must warn you, Highness, my friends are not so easily 'dealt with' as you might think.  They are quite formidable."

            "Your caution is duly noted," Asako said, "however, I do not think it will be a concern."

            "And why is that?"

            "Tut, tut," Yoruko chastised her.  "We cannot give all our secrets away.  Be patient and you will see."

***

            Hiruma led the Blades up to the base of the on which the Emperor's palace was built, and then behind an outcropping of rocks that shielded a small divot in the hillside.  It looked as if a giant had taken an enormous shovel full of earth and pushed it to one side, creating a cave not more than ten or fifteen feet deep and maybe half again as high.  A thick stand of bamboo curved around the open sides, further protecting the tiny cave and hiding it from sight.  It must have been done on purpose, so efficient was the design, but it was so naturally done that it would have been hard to find without a guide that knew where it was.

            Gesturing grandly at the cave Hiruma said, "Well, go in, there is a secret passage at the back.  You can find it on your own."

            Yoshimo was the first in, followed by Imoen and then the rest.  Yoshimo ran his hands along the back wall of the cave, squinting in the darkness.  He checked every inch of the wall, but found nothing except dirt and stone.  It showed no signs of being worked aside from having been dug out of the hillside.  

He turned around angrily.  "What are you trying to pull, old man?  There's no passage back here."

Hiruma smiled.  He moved to stand at the entrance of the cave, and Kaede and the girls came up and stood two on either side of him until they filled the opening.  "No, no there isn't.  I expected you to know better than to trust me, Yoshimo.  Twice now you've been my fool, and while last time you escaped, this time you won't be so lucky."

He stepped back and in the darkness Yoshimo saw the four women weaving their hands, their voices softly murmuring the beginnings of a spell.

Minsc roared in rage at their betrayal and charged at Hiruma, but Yukiko stepped in front of him and met his onslaught with her blade, parrying his reckless attack to one side.  The ranger stumbled, startled by the unexpected attack.  Touga moved in like a cat and made as if to block Yukiko's follow-up strike, but instead he shifted his weight and turning around, thrust his katana firmly into Minsc's chest.

In unison Dynaheir and Aerie shouted their protector's name and their hands, which until then had hung at their sides while they tried to come to grips with their shock, came up as they began to cast spells.  Ayame and Hana broke away from whatever spell they had been casting and together Dynaheir and Aerie, their twin smiles cold and cruel.

Meanwhile Yukiko and Touga came face to face with Khalid, stepping in front of the half-elf as he moved to protect Minsc's prone form. Anomen began to chant a prayer of protection to Helm and Imoen, Nalia and Jan started a spells to counter whatever Kaede and Kurenai were doing.  Jaheira moved up to support Khalid, and Haer'Dalis spattered Touga with a round of _magic missiles.  Yoshimo drew his bow in the blink of an eye, but the entrance of the cave was too crowded for him to get a clear shot, and it was too dark to see who was who in the dark.  Despite his skill he could easily miss and strike a friend instead of a foe._

The moment the Blades had crowded toward the front of the cave a flash of light appeared in the back and five armed and armored men wearing the uniforms of the Emperor's elite soldiers teleported in.  Yoshimo turned around just in time to block an incoming attack on the shaft of his bow.  A moment later he dropped the bow and drew his sword to block a second attack, and then a third.  The fourth soldier's attack glanced off his armor, but drove him back into the knot of people near the front of the cave.

Anomen turned to help him, and so did Haer'Dalis, who, next to him and Imoen, were closest to the back of the group, and between the three of them they made short work of the soldiers.  But no sooner had they finished they finished and started to turn back to the rest of the fight then another group of four soldiers appeared through a portal and they found themselves tied up again, literally.  Their four opponents gave up on the pretense of fighting and instead tossed four iron balls, which unraveled as they sailed through the air.  One wrapped around Anomen, pinning his arms to his chest.  Another caught Yoshimo about the ankles while a third tightened over his wrists.  The fourth snapped around Haer'Dalis' arms and drove him to the floor with its momentum.  The three men struggled in their bonds, but the iron bands offered them no opportunity for release, and all they could do was watch while the fight continued around them.

One of the soldiers sliced Imoen across the chest as she turned about, and another ran Dynaheir through from behind while she was casting a spell. A third hamstrung Aerie, dropping her to the ground like a sack of potatoes, and the fourth brought his blade down hard on Nalia's shoulder, cutting deeply into her flesh and nearly separating her right arm from her body.  

One of the soldier's companions chastised him, "Be careful! The Emperor wants them _alive; if there are fatalities he will be displeased."_

At the front of the cave Yukiko and Touga struggled to fend off the attacks of Jaheira and Khalid, finding the tables turned on them, but from out of the gloom Hiruma struck first Jaheira and then her husband, dropping them both, though from where he lay Yoshimo could not see where either of them had been struck.

Now only Jan was left standing and nervously he put his hands in the air.  "I don't suppose you fellas would let a harmless gnome go on his merry way would you?"

In response one of the soldiers came up behind him and wrapped another set of iron bands around his upraised arms.

Kaede opened a portal at the back of the cave, and Touga said to the soldiers, "Disarm them and take them to the Emperor.  Don't forget to knock the spell casters out; it would unfortunate if they were to cause trouble.  Yukiko, stabilize the injured ones; Brynn would be angry if any of them died."

"Not to mention the Emperor," Kaede murmured.

"Now who is a filthy traitor, Touga?" Yoshimo demanded, managing to sit up despite being restrained.  "Where is your honor now?"

"Shut up!" Touga snarled, backhanding him across the face.  "You don't know what you are talking about. I…"

Yukiko laid a hand on Touga's arm.  "Save your anger, beloved.  It will be time soon enough for them to know all, and then you will have your revenge."

Touga's expression grew cool and distant.  He gave Yoshimo a smile that was full of promises of pain, and said, "Of course."  He turned around and left the cave.  Yukiko left too, but she moved between the injured Blades, casting spells to heal them, but also leave them unconscious.

Hiruma came in his wake and crouched before Yoshimo, his scarred face mirthful.  "Where's your pride now, boy?  Where are your angry words and threats when you're trussed up on the floor at my feet?" He chuckled.  "Soon I'll collect on the debt you owe me for my eye, and then you won't have any more words at all."

Yoshimo looked him in the eye. "Get in line."

  
________________________________________________________________________

Notes:

Yes, I'm back.  I'm sorry I kept you waiting for so bloody long, but I sort of lost my train of narrative for a (long) while.  I've picked it back up again, but since I've let this sit for so long I've had the time to go back and look at some of it again.  Like most everything I write I've found things that, in hindsight, are horrendous.  Not just little errors, but some plot things that must be revised at some point.  For example, I've decided that Hiruma is more the kind of guy that works best with only little back up, and isn't the sort that would become a crime lord.  When I finish I'll go back and edit and revise, but I want the whole thing _done before I go changing things.  Anyway, the whole shebang will be revealed in the next chapter, and then there will be some mopping up and __bam! Finished._

-Blue


	17. Reasons Without Reason

Chapter 17:  
Reasons Without Reason  
  
The Emperor's guards brought the Blades in one by one. Some came in on their own two feet, but others, like Minsc, were carried by pairs of soldiers and deposited roughly on the floor. All of the m were bound, even those that weren't conscious., as if the guards knew that even incapacitated the Blades were still dangerous. It was the sort of precaution that careful, capable men take to ensure that nothing goes wrong. Obviously the Emperor had more invested in whatever it was he was doing than met the eye.  
  
Seven people followed the Blades. The first five, one man and four women, Brynn had never seen before. The man was horribly scarred and was missing one eye, but aside from that he seemed to be fit and trim, though his hair was graying somewhat at the temples. The eldest of the four women was probably about the same age as her male companion. She was quite beautiful, and held herself in such a way that she seemed at the same time very self-confident and properly demure. The other three women looked more than a decade younger than their two compatriots, and Brynn guessed that they were in their late twenties, maybe their early thirties. Two of them were identical twins, and all of them could have been sisters, though the third seemed a little off; a little too child-like perhaps.  
  
She would have gone on considering the fourth woman, but when she caught sight of the last two people to enter the room she felt her heart nearly come to a halt in her chest. Touga and Yukiko were unbound, walking as if they belonged in this place, and no guards shadowed their steps. Brynn looked imploringly at her Master, asking him with her eyes what was going on, but as soon as he caught her gaze he looked away, as if ashamed. That was what sealed it. For some reason Touga had betrayed her and the rest of the Blades, otherwise why would he be unbound? Now she desperately wanted to know why he had done it. Why would her Master, a man she had known for nearly half of her life, betray her to someone she had thought was their mutual enemy?  
  
"Excellent," the Emperor said, jogging Brynn out of her thoughts, "Our guests have arrived. Asako-san, go see if any of them has need of your attention; some look a bit worse for wear. " Asako stood up and bowed, then walked sedately over to the injured Blades. While she checked them, the Emperor continued, "I imagine you are all somewhat surprised, and I do apologize for the circumstances that necessitated this dishonest conduct, but admittedly, it was you who began it in the first place."  
  
Imoen rolled her eyes and glared at him, saying, "Oh yeah, sure, we started it so it's okay to..." The guard nearest Imoen backhanded her sharply across the cheek, and she fell silent, stunned by the blow.  
  
"I know you are Barbarians, however, your rudeness will not be tolerated, and will in fact be punished accordingly, though I grant you some leniency for your ignorance," the Emperor said coldly. "Now I wonder if I should even explain to you why I have brought you here at all, instead of having you killed in accordance with the law as I should have. Nevertheless, I am a benevolent man, so I shall put my doubts aside and be honest with you as to my purposes and intent. I will be brief, so as not to addle ineffective Barbarian minds. Touga-san, perhaps you should begin, and I will continue where you leave off."  
  
"As you wish, Your Highness," Touga said, bowing deeply. "Please believe me when I say that it was not my original intent to have matters progress in thie manner," he began, looking at Brynn as he spoke. "I was honest when I told you that I wished to free Yukiko-san from her imprisonment, even if I did not reveal all the details of the situation. When I returned to this land after leaving Candlekeep, I was disheartened by the corruption that had become rampant in the Shogun's regime. I sought out Yukiko-san and found that she was working with a faction of men and women who wanted to take power from the Shogun and return it to the Emperor. Last year, Yukiko-san was caught, and only the Emperor's direct intervention saved her from execution. If she had bee a lower-ranking member of our cause it would not have been a great hardship to lose her, but she was an important part of our plans, and there was necessary information that only she knew. The Shogun suspected something, and so none of our men were able to speak to her before she was sent to the prison island, and so I returned to the one person I thought would be capable of accomplishing her rescue. That would be you, little one," he nodded at Brynn. "I did not expect you to want to your friends to come, nor did I expect to find him, now he glared at Yoshimo, "to be there either."  
  
"So this is all my fault?" Brynn demanded, unable to keep silent any longer. "You could have been honest with me, and none of this nonsense would have been necessary! Didn't you think you could trust me? By the Gods, Master, you were like a father to me and..."  
  
"Now, now, let us save that for later," the Emperor interrupted her. "I believe it is my turn to speak. Originally I was unaware of the growing number of my people that wasnted me to rule this land in more than just name, but my dear cousin alerted me to the facts soon after she joined the movement. It made sense for me to rule as my ancestors had; my divine birth gave me the right. However, there are men who refuse to acknowledge my rights, preferring instead to try and hold on to their power, though in the end it will prove their downfall." He turned to Brynn, smiling beneficently. "Now, Brynn-san, when Touga-san first proposed that he bring his Barbarian student here to help him rescue my cousin I was hesitant to allow it. He quickly changed my mind by telling me something of your past. It seems we have a great deal in common, you and I, for both of us are born of divine blood. I was eager to meet you, and arranged to visit the prison island on the day that you arrived. I must say that I was impressed with your skill. You are truly a superb fighter, worthy of your master and your heritage. I had you brought her so that I could keep and eye on you, and draw your companions to me as well, since I am under the impression that their skills are not less than your own. Now that I have you all here, I have a proposal for you. With your help the war that is coming to my lands would be shortened drastically, for I have no doubt that you and your companions are the equal of small armies. Join my cause and you will be greatly rewarded. I personally guarantee that none of you will be subject to the laws that would otherwise forbid your presence here in my empire." He looked at Yoshimo, "And further more I guarantee that those of you who have already found yourselves on the wrong side of the law here will be pardoned for your crimes."  
  
It was all a little too much for Brynn; Touga's betrayal, hearing that he had known about her heritage before, and that on top of the biting ache from her wounds, made her dizzy with rage. She wondered what gave the Emperor the gall to ask her to help him after putting her through an emotional hell for the past fifteen days. She felt a rare sort of anger fill her. This, she relaized, was no the sort of anger that would fade with time, nore was it the sort of anger that could be assuage by apologies, and it wasn't the sort of anger that allowed for forgiveness. She looked at her friends, Imoen, Khalid, Jahiera, Aerie, Dynaheir, Minsc and Nalia all unconscious, their clothes bloodied and torn around their hastily treated wounds, Yoshimo, Haer'Dalis, Anomen and Jan all bound hand and foot, gags preventing the last three from attempting to cast spells. No their would be no forgiveness from her, not even to the man that had rasied her in cooperation with Gorion, developing her body as the sage developed her mind.  
  
"How dare you," she said, her voice low and dangerous. She got her feet despite a sharp jolt of pain in her leg. "How dare you?" She turned and stared the Emperor down, and his eyes widened with surprise. "I've played your games," she went on, her lip twisting into a disgusted snarl, "not because I wanted to, or because I liked you, but because you threatened me. I played your games because I didn't want to be a cripple for the rest of my life and because I wanted to know why you kept me alive for so long, not because I had any respect for you. Damn you and your so- called honor, your worthless rules -your arrogance! You claim to share some sort of kinship with me because we were both born of the blood of Gods, but yet you treat me like a toy, a thing to amuse you! You insolent little piece of shit! How dare you? I may not be the result of centuries of inbreeding and pompous, elitist snobbery, but I'm one up on you in one respect: I'm not so far down the bloodline that the first of my divine, mortal ancestors is nothing but a legend. My father was the God of Murder, and if I had so desired I could have taken my place on his throne of blood and bones. For all that your armies might defeat me in battle you will never be able to claim that!"  
  
Never before had she taken pride in her heritage, and she didn't exactly feel proud of it at the moment, per se, but she wanted to wipe that smug look off the Emperor's soft face. She hadn't faced down death again and again to be treated like crap by some pampered, conniving wretch. She was satisfied to see the Emperor's smooth exterior fall away for a moment, replaced by a look of horror, his mouth rounded into a little O of surprise.  
  
The mask slipped back on again soon enough. His eyes went cold as ice, hard as steel, and he said, "Kill them all, starting with the thief."  
  
Now it was Brynn's turn to feel horror as she suddenly understood just what releasing her pent up anger would corst her. She turned around and saw he armed guard by Yoshimo raise up his katana, and though, I can't lose him again! She started to move, but firsta piercing shriek filled the air.  
  
"You can't hurt Yoshimo-kun!" A strange aura fell over one of the three women at the back of the room and coalesced in the shape of a black, fire-wreathed arrow that flew across the room and strunk the guard in the chest, right over the heart. None of the lacquer on the guards' brillian armor was even chipped by the magic arrow, but a moment later his face was frozen forever in the same expression it had been when he realized his entire body was being turned to stone.  
  
All hell then proceeded to break loose on a scale hitherto unknown in the entirety of the Empire of Wa. 


End file.
